How a
group of teens
provides
respite
to parents of
special needs
children.
a week, the teens play with the special
needs children, and with their siblings.
It's a way to give parents a break,
whether to go grocery shopping or
just time to look in the eyes of a
spouse.
It's time, free time.
In about two years, the Daniel
Sobel Friendship Circle volunteers
have grown from a handful of teens.
They are still growing. The organiza-
tion also includes susbstance abuse
counseling for families and inviduals
in need.
Just another story about people
helping out in our community? In this
case, there are few if any respite
options for parents. This is the only
place where many parents can get the
help they need.
When the program was created two
years ago, it seemed too good to be
true. Rabbi Levi Shemtov and his
wife, Bassie, coordinate the volunteers,
schedule transportation for them and
keep the program growing. The cou-
ple started on behalf of the Lubavitch
Foundation as a way to offer help
through friendship. There is no
money asked from anyone, there are
no efforts to proselytize.
The Shemtovs simply took a list of
100 names from Keshet, the Detroit
area advisory group for parents with
special needs children, and mailed a
flier offering the volunteer services.
Only five people responded at first.
Mrs. Shemtov called names on the
list. The people thought it was some
sort of scam.
"When a family has a special needs
child, they often lose a lot of their past
friends," said Rabbi Shemtov. "Their
friends don't know how to handle it
when there's a problem.
"All of a sudden, appointments
need to be canceled, commitments
can't be made. These people have dif-
ferent lives. And the families find
themselves alone. What we decided to
do was build a bridge to bring help
from the outside into the family."
The word spread.
After an initial phase of volun-
teerism, the families who took a
chance called other families. Now, the
Friendship Circle is so well organized
it is going to begin a drop-in program
this fall at the Maple-Drake Jewish
Community Center.