ouse

JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

Temple Israel
volunteers help
restore a Detroit home.

oward Heicklen, Dani Katsir istry) to clean up a home in the
Doug Rouff kneeled on the
and Zach Propkin toiled in the Ravendale neighborhood, on the edge of the kitchen counter, chip-
basement, tearing down strips east side of Detroit.
ping away at layers of paint that
of wood the house inspector
The house will eventually be had accumulated on the ceiling
deemed unnecessary.
sold to low-income tenants at a over the years.
The banging of their ham- significantly reduced cost. The
"I have never done this be-
mers shook the floor upstairs, work performed by Temple Is- fore," he said as chips flew, land-
where other volunteers, includ- rael volunteers will help keep ing in his wife's hair. "It is really
ing Gaye Smith, Susan Loss and the cost down.
a nice thing to do."
Jamie Hodari, gave the walls a
Mr. Katsir, a stained-glass
"We wanted to get more in-
fresh coat of paint.
window maker by profession volved in temple, which is why
This activity, which began and handyman by nature, said we are here," Karen Rouff said.
early last Sunday morning and he did not need a reason to
Brian Halprin and Mark
extended into the afternoon spend a Sunday morning help- Freedman, of Think Twice,
hours, was a collaboration be- ing others.
joined the temple volunteers in
tween Temple Israel, Think
"It makes me feel good," said their efforts. Founded five years
Twice and R3 (Revise, Restore Mr. Katsir, who joined about 30 ago, the organization raises
and Rebuild,_a project associat- Temple Israel volunteers in the money and recruits volunteers
ed with the Joy of Jesus Min- cleanup effort.
to help renovate and restore
housing in the city of De-
troit, according to Mr. Hal-
prin.
Temple Israel got in-
volved with the project as
part of the temple's on-go-
ing attempts to strength-
en ties between the city
and the suburbs and the
black and Jewish commu-
nities.

"It is really
a nice thing
to do."

—Doug Rouff

Left: Stacie Smith and Stephanie Keywell.

Top: Susan Loss and Jamie Hodari work on the fireplace.

Above: Karen Rouff and Jeff Katzen help turn the walls white.

14

Stephanie Keywell, a
West Bloomfield resident
who grew up in Detroit,
said she felt a social re-
sponsibility in coming to
the east side.
"I really would like to
see the city come back and
I would like to do what I
can to make it happen,"
Ms. Keywell said.
David Gamlin, an orga-
nizer with R3, stopped by
to thank the Temple Israel
volunteers. Dressed in a
suit, he said he could not
stay because of church ac-
tivities but wanted to ex-
press his appreciation.
"We have a lot of work to do
in the community. We have at
least another half a dozen hous-
es they can help us on and a lot
more activities going on," Mr.
Gamlin said. O

Jill Davidson Sklar contributed (
to this report.