Cookie Craze

Teens stay up all night to bake cookies for
homeless people.

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER

A

my Morrison and Marla years ago and always wanted to do it. To-
Swartz admittedly did not gether with youth-group members, sho
know very much about and co-chair Carly Efros plp.ied how
making cookies before Sat- many cookies th,dey
u how m ch
ct ccoosot:lan
bak eth
urday night.
den solicit-
everything w-
So it was no surprise when, ed h (J1 • irom other area youth groups.
while making a batch. the bowl other teens came from Temple Kol Ami,
j o the bep i--. were Congregation Shir Shalom and Congre-
sc i r nni
e 1ps.
00se,,,pwiahti frr.Iiig
butter, sug-
„." and L,ogs all over Temple gation Shaarey Zedek in Lansing.
The group began their evening sedate-
E,..nu-El's kitchen.
ly with a Havdalah service. After the last
"We are so bad at this," Marla prayer, they came to the kitchen where
said, laughing as she wiped cook- mounds of butter, stacks of cookie sheets,
ie dough from her face.
three Kitchen-Aid mixers and large bowls
The minor accident was quick- teaming with chocolate chips, flour and
ly forgotten as Marla, Amy and 26 sugar awaited them.
other members of area youth
After an obligatory flour fight, the
groups made over 3,800 cookies for youth-group members got down to work,
the Door Step Shelter, a facility slaving through the night in a hot kitchen,
serving homeless families in De-
troit.
The teens raised money for the
Over 3,800 cookies were
project by gathering sponsors will-
ing to pay $3 for each dozen cook-
baked and sent to a
ies the teens made. The funds paid
homeless shelter.
for the ingredients for the cookies
and added cash to the Temple
Emanu-E1 Temple Youth (TEM- mixing the dough, baking the cookies and
TY) fund for a regional North packaging them for the shelter. Large
egg
American Federation of Temple crates filled with chocolate chip and oat-
Youth (NFTY) summer-camp ex- meal cookies were delivered to the shelter
perience.
by Janice Erdstein, teacher with Ian
"Camp is really expensive. So Flashner of the leadership class at Tem-
we decided to raise some of the ple Emanu-El's religious school.
money so it wouldn't cost so much,"
Not everybody came willingly. Bree
said Lani Buch, a 16-year-old Kessler could have gone to the movies with
youth-group member who orga- some of her friends and Rikki Gantz could
nized the Cookie-A-Thou.
have made $20 baby-sitting for two hours.
Lani heard about the idea a few
"I was complaining that I didn't want
to be here," Bree said, wiping dough from
her forehead. "But I knew it was impor-
tant. I don't do very much community
work."
"Sure, we could have done something
else, but we are having so much fun doing
this and it is for such a good cause," Rik-
ki said.
Rabbi Amy Brodsky and her husband,
Dennis, spent a big chunk of their evening
with the teens. As rabbinic adviser of the
youth group, Rabbi Brodsky was pleased
with the teens' efforts and enthusiasm.
"I thought it was a great idea and the
kids organized it themselves," Rabbi Brod-
sky said, gesturing to a chart that broke
down the shifts in which the kids would
bake or pack cookies. "I am very im-
pressed."
Parents also volunteered to take shifts ` .g
.
to supervise the teens until 2 a.m. After
that time, Ian Flashner, who also serves
as youth-group adviser at Temple Emanu-
El, and youth-group alumna Judy =
Avrushin took over the responsibility.
c.-.)
"Some of the real winners here are the
parents," Mr. Flashner said. "They signed 2
up to take turns staying up with their kids
on a Saturday night. That is
0

PHOTOS BY BILL GEMMELL

-

Above:
Lani Buch and Bree
Kessler secure the
mixing bowl.

Right:
Ethan Ard and
Michael Strausz pop
a dozen cookies into
the oven.

15