A fresh look at some recent stories in the headlines.

Target Among
Sponsors Of JET

Oak Park JCC
On Target Schedule

JENNIFER FINER JEWISH NEWS INTERN

KIMBERLY UFMN STAFF WRITER

the union of professional
actors and stage managers.
"We are ecstatic with the
support," Mr. Frank said.
"The business of producing
professional theater is one
where you are constantly
looking for additional
sources of money. Even if
you sold every seat in the
house for every production,
you would still not have
ment planning. JET has a enough money."
$250,000 annual budget.
The theater is still seek-
"Through the
use of this money
we will achieve the
means to generate
additional sources
of revenue," said
Bryant M. Frank,
president of JET.
JET performs at
the Maple-Drake
Jewish Commun-
ity Center's 200-
ing corporate sponsorship
seat Aaron DeRoy Theater. for its last two productions:
JET is a professional the- Sight Unseen and Beau
ater company and is affili- Jest.
ated with Actors' Equity,

JEWISH ENSEMBLE THEATRE

S

ince last year, when
the Jewish Ensem-
ble Theater formed
an advisory board
to find endowment funds
and grants, it has received
money from a handful of
different sources.
JET'S production of The
Price got corporate spon-
sorship from World Wide
Financial Services, Inc. and
$8,000 from Target stores.
Earlier this month, the
Michigan Council for the
Arts provided JET with a
$9,000 grant that is ear-
marked for arts develop-

T

he recently renovat-
The refurbished JPM fa-
ed Jewish Commu- cility opened in September,
nity Center in Oak ending years of discussion
Park is attracting in the community over the
new members each day, need for a facility close to
leaving officials
optimistic the
Center will sur-
pass original
membership pro-
jections.
Already, mem-
bership at the
Jimmy Prentis
Morris facility is
at 127 for the
health club and
350 for the gen-
eral family op-
tion. By late
,
spring, officials JPM e new swimming pool.
predict there will be at the Jewish communities of
least 400 general family Oak Park, Huntington
memberships in place and Woods and Southfield —
200 members of the health where a majority of the
facility.
Jewish community resides.
"We are well on our
Ms. Bash said the Oak
way," said Leslie Bash, Park center has attracted
JPM director. "We are several new American fam-
right on target."
ilies, as well as families

'94 Campaign
Set To Begin

AJE Building
At Full Capacity

RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER

T

he 1994 Allied Jew-

In addition to the annual
Campaign, we're going to
be working equally as hard
to get the word out about
$700,000 more, pledge for Exodus II — the continua-
pledge, than the total re- tion of the program to help
ported mid-December last rescue Jewish lives from
year.
the former Soviet Union

ish Campaign so far
has raised close to
$16 million
—

But Campaign Director
Allan Gelfond says it's too
early to determine how
much money will be raised
before the Campaign clos-
es.
"The '94 Campaign has
another 12 months. We're
hopeful. We're optimistic.

and other parts of the
world," Mr. Gelfond said.
Escalating political un-
rest and anti-Semitism in
the former Soviet Union
led Jewish leaders to ex-
pect that immigration to Is-
rael will increase. In the
past couple of years,

500,000 Jews from the for-
mer Soviet Union have
made aliyah.
An estimated 1.4 million
Jews still live in Russia
and surrounding regions.
One million hold family re-
unification papers, the first

step to leaving. Jewish
leaders say ongoing Amer-
ican support is necessary
to assure their safe and
prompt emigration.
The '94 Campaign
phonathon begins with Su-
per Week, scheduled for
Jan. 14-24.

from the surrounding cor-
ridor. Separate hours for
males and females in the
swimming pool has pleased
members of the Orthodox
community, Ms.
Bash said.
Next month,
JPM officials will
hold a general
meeting for those
interested in plan-
ning for a new Ju-
daic-theme
playground for
children ages 2 to
5. The playground,
to be built with a
$50,000 endow-
- ment from the
Harry and Jean-
nette Weinberg Founda-
tion of Baltimore, will be
constructed by volunteers
in early July.
The planning meeting,
scheduled for Jan. 16, is
open to the public. For
more information, call the
JPM at 967-4030.

T

he sign is off
the building and all
the vacancies are
filled.
The United Hebrew
Schools sign has been tak-
en down at 21550 W. 12
Mile, the home of the
Agency for Jewish Educa-
tion (AJE). All prior dis-
cussions of increased
building use, by Hillel Day
School and Darchei Torah,
have been halted.
Hillel continues to look
at independent plans for
expansion. Darchei Torah,
now housed at the ME, is
working to open its two
portables outside the build-
ing.
Tenants of the building
include Jewish Experi-
ences For Families, the
American Zionist Move-
ment, Ohr Sameach's
lunch and learn program,
Hebrew Free Loan and
Michigan Jewish AIDS
Coalition.

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"We're at full capacity
now. We couldn't take on
another tenant if we want-
ed to," said Howard Gel-
berd, AJE executive

director. "We're using all
our space and this building
has truly come to life
again." El

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