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Gale said sending local legislators on VIP trips to Israel to learn first- hand about Middle East issues con- fronting the Jewish homeland is a high priority for the Council. It gets several thousand dollars each time from the United Jewish Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit to pay for the visits. The last trio in 1997 included Governor John Engler. Dozens of legislators have taken a Council-sponsored trip to Israel in the past 10 years, Gale said. For example, Debbie Stabenow of Lansing went about 10 years ago as a stare representative, he said, and "now she's a congresswoman and she has a strong pro-Israel agenda." Stabenow said the 12-person trip had a "profound impact" on her way of thinking: She said she was always HOURS: Mon., Tue., Wed. & Thur. 9-7 • Fri. & Sat. 9-4 STEVE BROWN'S RICAN FIREPLACE & BARBECIkiE Michigan's Largest Selection of Premium Barbeques • Inground •Natural •Portable •Deck Mount •L.P. 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"The focus should remain in that arena," he said. "The Council has to have a broad reach." As with many other Council activi- ties, the impact of the trips cannot be measured objectively and Council offi- cials said they don't try. Howard Wallach, Council's imme- diate past president, said, "The person who is sitting on your local city Council today may be sitting in the state House of Representatives three years from now. If we can get that per- son involved in some of the issues that are of concern to our community, then when they're sitting in a position where they might have some influence we've already developed a relationship with them." Local Activities The Council has always been adept at coalition building and providing input at forums and meetings, which is the job of an umbrella organization. When the Council tries to initiate events on its own, its lack of a grass- roots membership or a cadre of volun- teers can make the process seem slow in developing. • Five Town Hall meetings for Jews living in areas outside the core Jewish area drew between 10 and 50 partici- pants at each meeting over the last year. The Council never expected a large turnout at the meetings, just a high level of discussion, said Gad-Hart. "If 100 people would have attended each of those sessions, I would say maybe we didn't need to come here because they already have a large, active Jewish community," he said. "They're already involved. We just wanted to send a strong message to these communities that the organized Jewish community cares about them." • The Detroit Initiative began in 1996 as a way for Jews to re-connect, or remain connected to, the central city by encouraging business partner- ships with African American business people, volunteering time and money to upgrade public recreation centers and volunteering to staff them. After three years, its most active element, funded by a $100,000 grant from the proceeds of the sale of Sinai Ho&pital, is based in the Adams- Butzel Recreation Complex near Sinai in Detroit. A touch-screen computer at the health kiosk near the entrance gives information ranging from how to quit smoking to how to fight AIDS. The program provides health screenings and enlists volunteers from the Maimonides Medical Society to help needy individuals. "We're pleased by the progress" of the Detroit Initiative, said Gad-Hart, adding, "but we have a long way to go." • After many months of planning a response to a presidential call for improving national literacy, the Council launched the Detroit Jewish Literacy Coalition in January. It has signed up 80 volunteers to help Detroit Public School third-graders improve their reading skills and plans a push in the fall for 220 more. • For three hours on the afternoon of