Lending A Hand

Denver resident Ranya Kelly
obtained the items from Col-
orado retailers who otherwise
would have thrown out the ma-
terials they considered no longer
saleable. For many years, she
has seen that such goods made
their way to charitable groups in
her home state. Now she and
longtime friend Rabbi Daniel
Syme of Temple Beth El hope to
establish a similar program here.
Temple Beth El was a co-spon-
sor of the event, along with The
Jewish News and gubernatorial
hopeful Doug Ross. Volunteers
gathered at a warehouse in Roy-
al Oak to distribute the items.
Whitney Aidenbaum, 9, was
surprised by the massive
amount of goods that arrived. "It
felt good to volunteer," she said.
Volunteers piled housewares,

suitcases and clothing on wood-
en flats. But the items did not re-
main piled for long; those from
missions and charities started to
arrive almost immediately after
the truck was unpacked.
Donated items went to nearly
40 area agencies.
"The volunteers were very en-
thusiastic," says Bob Blau, a
Beth El member. "We were
working as a group, in unison."
Guido Aidenbaum, a temple
member whose wife co-chaired
the event, helped unload coats
from inside the truck. He says
the experience was "real festive.
The cantor [Stephen Dubov]
started leading people in song.
Everybody was in a good mood,
smiling, laughing. We worked
hard."

Volunteers sort and distribute
donated clothing, food and
housewares for area needy.

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN STAFF WRITER

Volunteers from Temple Beth El bagged coats to give to the needy.

DE C EM B ER

IVI ax Aidenbaum, 7,
said unloading a
truck full of donat-
ed clothing and
housewares was
"fun." He de-
scribed using baby
strollers to trans-
port shoes and coats from the
truck into the warehouse.
"We marked all the shoes with
Xs to make sure they were
checked in," says Max, whose
family belongs to Temple Beth
El. "I felt really good because rm
helping."
More than 50 volunteers
turned out last Saturday to help
unload 15,000 coats, 500 pairs of
shoes, 5,000 pounds of flour,
baby equipment and other cloth-
ing to be donated to charitable
organizations in metro Detroit.

1