siness

3:ARC

Above:
Maryann Zukosky gives back.

Below:
Esther, Jay and Ronnie Korelitz supply
landscaping items.

Business Buddies
are sharing their
good fortune with
the community by
helping the
developmentally
disabled.

FRANK PROVENZANO

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

hirty years ago,
Maryann Zukosky
was a special-education
teacher for the develop-
mentally disabled. Since
then, she said, she's
looked for the right time
when she could "give
something back."
When JARC (Jewish
Association for Residen-
tial Care) established its Busi-
ness Buddies program three
years ago, Ms. Zukosky made
good on her promise. She's been
"giving something back" ever
since.
Today, Ms. Zukosky is owner
of Duraclean by Maryann. She
is one of the many local business

owners who donate goods and
services to JARC. Duraclean by
Maryann cleans the carpet and
upholstery of JARC's 18 homes
and 13 condominiums. Typically,
one or two homes are cleaned per
week.
JARC, headquartered in
Southfield, is the largest provider
in the country of Jewish resi-
dential services for adults with
developmental disabilities. In the
midst of governmental restruc-
turing where the focus is on bal-
anced budgets, funding cuts and
privatization of public services,
nonprofits like JARC must strug-
gle to patch together a yearly
operating budget.
The broader question, howev-

er, is whether the communities
where nonprofits are located can
pick up the slack in public fund-
ing. JARC has been encouraged
by the immediate and growing
support of its Business Buddies
program. But ironically, Busi-
ness Buddies is a sign of the
times. Diminishing state funds
will inevitably require even wider
community support in the years
ahead.
"Who's to say what you should
do either as a person or business
owner?" said Ms. Zukosky. "Peo-
ple have to do what's right for
them. For me, part of being Jew-
ish is about giving something
back."
Over the last five years, JARC
has had to find more ways to
come up with its $5.5 million
budget. It's grown more re-
sourceful while state funding has
lagged behind the cost of living.
The result is that the percentage
of JARC's budget to be raised
through donations has risen from
25 to 33 percent. Meanwhile,
JARC's operating costs and the
number of its clients continually
increases.
Like many nonprofit human-
services organizations, JARC
faces the perpetual dilemma Try
to find ways to do more with less.
`We've realized that some peo-
ple can write a check and some
can give goods and services," said
Joyce Keller, JARC's executive
director. "We've always had
businesses donate services, and —
Business Buddies is a way to
formalize what we were doing —
and to broaden the appeal to the
community."
In addition to providing for
adults with developmental dis-

JARC page 38

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