Buying Power
Garage sale benefits Alzheimer's Association.
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
Top:
Sophie Sulkes, Millie Weiss and Tonya
Corbett help fight Alzheimer's.
Above Middle:
Wayne Adams pedals in place.
Above:
Sophie Sulkes, Millie Weiss and Tonya
Corbett help fight Alzheimer's.
Right:
Robert Kraus weighs his options.
R
obert Kraus weighed his options and
decided on a 50-cent scale.
Others shuffled through shoes, eyed
books and tried on colorful, second-hand
coats and knit sweaters.
The shoppers were among the many
people who showed up Aug. 18 for a
garage sale benefiting the Detroit chap-
ter of the Alzheimer's Association. The
fund-raiser was sponsored by Jewish
Federation Apartments and the Jew-
ish Home for Aged.
"It's for a good cause," said Mr. Kraus, a regu-
lar JHA volunteer who spent all of Thursday's
sunny morning and afternoon helping out with
the event.
"My mother spent seven of her last eight years
here," he said. "She was treated well. Now it's pay-
back time. My sister and I both volunteer."
The event wasn't held in a garage, but it had
all the eclectic trappings of that kind of sale. Out-
side the abutting Hechtman and Fleischman
buildings were wedding dresses, a used exercise
bike, an antique sewing machine and purses —
old, but in good shape.
Merchandise was donated by residents, fami-
lies, volunteers and staff. One woman contributed
1,800 books. A book dealer dropped by later to
purchase nearly 500 of them.
The Jewish elderly living in JFA's Hechtman
Apartments and JHA's Fleischman Residence
took part in the event. Some supervised the cash
box. Others organized the wares.
Last year, the two institutions held a rocking-
chair rock-a-thon, also to benefit the Alzheimer's
Association. The cause hits close to home.
Alzheimer's, a neuroldgical disorder affecting
memory, cognition, mental ability and personal-
ity, predominantly strikes men and women 65
and older. Annually, it kills more than 100,000
Americans. There is no cure for the disease,
though scientists are making some progress in
finding treatments.
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