Left:
Matt Pearl and
Alyssa Gold take
a quiet breather
from the swings.

Opposite page:
Elana Kaminer
plays on her
family's computer.

Below:
Matt and Alyssa
go "higher
and higher"

C

PHIL JACOBS
Editor

GLENN TREIST
Photographer

att Pearl is pushing a
child on a swing in her
Novi backyard.
Her high squeals of
delight demand that she
go higher and higher.
It's a late summer after-
noon. Traffic jams along
nearby 1-96, but Alyssa Gold, 6 1/2, is
having the time of her life. She can't
see "higher and higher." Matt Pearl
can.
Each week, Benjamin Morris asks
his mother, Carolyn, when Netanya
will be arriving. It's always the first
question out of his mouth on the day
she is scheduled to be there.
When Netanya comes to the 8 1/2-
year-old's West Bloomfield house,
there will be time to play, quality

moments. A brief break. When
Netanya comes.
Elana Kaminer, 9, bolts through
the front door, moving adults out of
the way in the process. In her Oak
Park front yard she grabs a teen-age
girl by the waist and pulls her over to
the stroller. The two, with stuffed ani-
mals in tow, quickly disappear around
the corner. Sheryl Kaminer sits and
takes a deep breath. It's the first time
she's sat down for a couple of days.
There are many stories such as
these within the Detroit Jewish com-
munity. Their baseline is simple. Each
week, a network of 100 teen volun-
teers, most of them girls, go into the
homes of children with special needs.
Those needs can range from autism to
Down syndrome. For an hour or two