Just Doing It
JARC's Social Action Committee provides
opportunities for inclusion.
JULIE EDGAR SENIOR WRITER
Y
vonne Vandenberg re-
members the chalk-art
booth in downtown Detroit
as her favorite project with
the Jewish Association for Resi-
dential Care's (JARC) Social Ac-
tion Committee.
As a member of the committee,
Vandenberg recruited children to
make drawings at Detroit's recent
centennial celebration.
It was the first time in her life
that anybody asked her for advice,
like how to spell a word.
"I taught kids how to do certain
things. It made me feel good," she
said.
Richard Graff, a fellow member
of the Social Action Committee,
was terrified at the prospect of
hosting a packaging party at his
apartment last Valentine's Day.
He'd never entertained before and
he didn't know what to do.
After successfully hosting the
party, at which committee mem-
bers put together 250 care pack-
ages of cards and candy for the
Pontiac Rescue Mission, he looks
forward to next year's gathering
in his home.
"He shone. For him, this was a
huge step. Growing up, they were
often berated, and they never re-
ceived anything for Valentine's
Day," said Shoshana Rubinstein,
a social worker with JARC's In-
dependent Living Program and
the impetus behind the Social Ac-
tion Committee.
JARC operates three Indepen-
dent Living Programs, which
serve 60 people with develop-
mental disabilities who, like Graff
and Vandenberg, can live on their
own but require some services.
The pair, employees of the Jew-
ish Community Center in Oak
Park, are clients of JARC's DeRoy
Independent Living Program and
part of the Social Action Commit-
tee, which sets its sights on any-
one in need. Its activities for the
past 3 1/2 years have ranged from
visiting isolated nursing home res-
idents in Detroit to labeling cans
at a food bank to putting togeth-
er care packages for American sol-
diers in Bosnia. Committee mem-
bers also participate each year in
the Martin Luther King Jr. Walk.
"We had finger cramps by the
time we were finished," quipped
committee member Elaine Gold-
man about the Bosnia food pro-
ject.
Although she prefers to at-
tribute the committee's success to
its members, Rubinstein went to
Washington on Thursday to ac-
cept the 1997 Elizabeth Monroe
Boggs Young Leadership Award
for her work on the project. The
President's Committee on Mental
Retardation bestows the award
annually on future leaders in the
field of developmental disabilities.
Rubinstein, who is in her mid-
30s, also presented a report on the
committee's work which she heard
will end up on the president's
desk.
After graduating from the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania with a de-
gree in social work, Rubinstein
stayed in Philadelphia to work
with indigents and runaways.
JUST DOING IT page 10
Shoshana Rubinstein, founder of
JARC's Social Action Committee,
with committee members (from
left, back row) Richard Graff,
Yvonne Vandenberg and Denise
Anderson, and (second row) Elaine
Goldman and Harold Folkoff.
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