HELPING page 3

Helping Hands

Workshop members stuff en-
velopes with registration pack-
ets and letters that go to
prospective students.
Weight Watchers and Sinai
Hospital, Lear and the Michigan
Silver Exchange also provide
work for JVS.
"The job from Lear allows the
company to re-use the tool that
fills headrests of seats," said
Remington. "For the Michigan
Silver Exchange, the partici-
pants remove film so that the sil-
ver nitrate can be extracted."
The participants are paid
based on the productivity of each
person.

Many in the JVS program
have vision or memory problems,
or arthritis. "Giving them more
variety of jobs to do can make
it easier on them, and they can
feel successful," Cook said.
Two of the workers owned
their own businesses before join-
ing the program at JVS.
Danny Berman, 84 years old
this month and living in Oak
Park, ran a dry cleaners in Ham-
tramck. He comes to JVS one
day a week.
"When I started, it seemed
like a nice thing to do," Ber-
man said. "And it still is."
Novi's Bill Hacker, one of the

younger participants in the
workshop at 67, has been at-
tending two days each week for
the last year.
"I started my own business
over 40 years ago, which I still
own," he said of his Hacker Sign
Studio, Inc. "My sons run it now.
This program gives me some-
thing to do and occupy my time,"
he said.
The participants' day usually
starts at 9:30 a.m. and ends at
2:15 p.m. and they get half-an-
hour for lunch.
The scheduling for the pro-
gram is flexible. They work any-
where from 1-5 days a week,

with half working all five days.
The flexibility in the schedule,
according to Cook, can accom-
modate the participants' needs,
and those of their families as
well.
At 10:30 each morning, the
group goes into the gym at the
JVS building, where they are led
in a series of stretching exercis-

Left:
Lee Schanfaver
assembles clips for
windshield wipers.

Right:
Adrienne Hassen
exercises with a
dowel stick to stay in
shape.

C/)

LU

TH E DE TRO

I-

Workshop trainer Betty Mosby assists participant Madie Hampton.

es by a physical conditioning in-
structor.
Another benefit of the pro-
gram is having a registered
nurse keep an eye on the health
of the participants. Carol Dra-
gos, who has been at JVS 16
years, checks the workers'
weight and blood pressure on a
monthly basis.