Left: Jeff Fredericks, 15, and Jeremy Crawford, 12, assemble
baskets for WOL.

Below: Joshua Fahmle, 13, learned about Shaloch Manot
during vocational hour.

Children With Autism
Prepare Purim Treats

RUTH UTTMANN STAFF WRITER

his year, Purim was "deliv-
ered" to a place where it ar-
guably had never been heard
of before, but where it also
served as a major mitzvah and
part of an educational process.
Because this year, students at
Sashabaw Middle School in
Clarkston assembled baskets
of Purim treats for members
of the Women's Orthodox
League.
Each year, WOL sponsors a

Shaloch Manot Purim Project
to raise money for the Oak
Park mikvah. This year, the
Purim parcels — filled with
chocolates and cookies, fruits,
nuts and other goodies — will
be delivered to about 750 Jew-
ish families in the metro area.
The festive parcels general-
ly are prepared within the Or-
thodox community, but this
year Sashabaw students pre-
pared the Shaloch Manot in

"321 Productions," a class that
teaches them vocational skills.
Special and general educa-
tion students — some from
Clarkston and nearby juris-
dictions — participate in the
program. The students used
an assembly-line method to fill
purple and black containers
full of kosher treats.
WOL member Lisa Jacobs,
a speech pathologist for the
autistic program at Sashabaw
Middle School, helped stu-

It's a convenient
way to send
greetings to
friends.

Bryant Caudill, 14, helps prepare the parcels.

dents prepare the bas1A.As. "It
gave me the opportunity to ed-
ucate them a little about
Purim — something they
wouldn't have ;any contact
with," she said:' The opportu-
nity to put the baskets to-
gether also helps/ the
autistic students- learn
organizational skills
and teamwork.
Aviva Rider, an-
other WOL mem-
ber, looks
forward to the
Purim Pro-
ject because
it creates

excitement for the holiday. It
also is a convenient way to
send greetings to friends. WOL
members pay to sign their
names to individual baskets.
Volunteers deliver the baskets
on Purim with a card listing
friends who sent it.
This year, the Riders' name
will appear on 108 cards.
"The Purim Project allows
us to fulfill the mitzvah of giv-
ing shaloch manot, the gift of
food," she said.
But if you ask any of the 321
students, they'd say that the
WOL performed an even
greater mitzvah, the opportu-
nity to participate and to
learn. O