cent of her clients eventually
train a secured living situation.
It was a little after 10 p.m.
Joe, a guest, emerged from a
dimmed social hall where many
of the men had retired to their
foam pads. Joe asked for an iron
to press his clothes for a job in-
,--orview, and Susan Yorke
Promised to bring him one from
~
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her home in the morning.
"They're really nice people,"
said Ms. Yorke as she walked
toward her car. She was sched-
uled to return for the 5:30-to-8
a.m. shift. "I think that's what
everyone has felt. Regardless of
their problem, they don't have
a place to stay. And they're re-
ally trying."0
JFS Intake Worker
Retiring After 30 Years
No. 2551
Seville
so DOWN
AMY J. MEHLER
mt.
Staff Writer
arely does someone
call Detroit's Jewish
Family Service just to
say hello.
Usually, people call JFS
when they are in some kind
of trouble — a family crisis,
"Dillness, on the verge of
suicide.
Helen Samburg has talked
to them all. For 30 years,
' Mrs. Samburg has sat by her
telephone, listening, writing
assessments, advising and
> referring callers to JFS so-
cial workers and therapists.
I She has helped qualify
clients for Social Security.
ie has helped clients get off
I. public assistance. She has
_,fund books and money for
college students when others
told her none was available.
"It wasn't always easy, but
I always found a way," said
I Mrs. Samburg, who retired
last week.
' <- Arlene Goldberg, a super-
isor at JFS, said Helen
1 visor
' Samburgs are hard to find.
_ "The person for this job
needs to have the ap-
propriate respect for people
Who no one has respect for,"
Mrs. Goldberg said. "Helen
is the last of a dying breed."
Mrs. Samburg, the agen-
cy's only intake and referral
worker, joined JFS in 1962
when Harold Silver was ex-
ecutive director. In the last
30 years, she worked for
Sam Lerner, who left the
agency in 1989, and for Alan
Goodman, the agency's cur-
=rent director.
"Each had his own per-
6'onality and way of doing
_, things," Mrs. Samburg said,
Flout they all put the agency
first."
As the first person clients
speak to, Mrs. Samburg
hears every kind of story,
from substance abusers,
homeless, the victims of
buse, parents of children in
cults.
She did her best for each of
them. Once she helped a
man become independent of
public assistance and get a
steady job. Before he left
r
No. 2337
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1992 Dealer Demo Sale
Helen Samburg:
The clients' voice.
JFS, he promised to repay
her for her kindness.
"I figured he probably
meant it when he said it,"
Mrs. Samburg said, "but
people rarely keep such
promises."
This year, the man called
her. He was doing well and
was drug-free. "I was not
even aware that he was on
drugs," Mrs. Samburg said.
Soon after, she received a
letter in the mail.
"He sent JFS a check with
the instructions that the
money must be used to help
people in similar situa-
tions," she said. "I was
overwhelmed."
Mrs. Samburg will not
completely sever her connec-
tion with JFS. "I've been
here too long," she said.
She plans to form a JFS
alumni association for
retirees. She will also re-
main active in her union and
in the many peace and ac-
tivist organizations with
which she is a member.
"If its purpose is peace, I'm
a member," she said.
Mrs. Samburg also is in
the midst of selling her
home. For the last 36 years,
she has lived in northwest
Detroit, just off Outer Drive.
She regrets having to move,
having loved her neighbor-
hood for so long, but feels she
can no longer maintain her
home.
"Nobody can call me
fickle," Mrs. Samburg said.
"When I make a commit-
ment and love a place, I stay
there." ❑
mt.
No. 2669
Sedan DeVille
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
15