CHILDREN & TEENS ENRICHMENT Birthday Parties* Jewish Community Center - Kahn Building 6600 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 661-7679 Contact Person: Polly Prime Jewish Community Center - JPM Building 15110 W. Ten Mile Oak Park, MI 48237 (248) 967-4030 Contact Person: Lori Heddle We offer sports, swimming, Discovery museum and toddler gym parties. Parties are for children ages 1-12 and for groups up to 30. Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Parenting Center 4200 Walnut Lake Road West Bloomfield, MI 48323 (248) 681-5353 FAX (248) 681 4251 Email: jpc@shaareyzedek.org Website: wwvv.shaareyzedek.org Contact Person: Janet Pont, director - Offers classes, programs and events for expectant parents, families, parents and grandparents. Family parties for holidays, Shabbat dinners and monthly challa days are available to the entire community. Gibson School* 12925 Fenton Road Redford, MI 48239 (313) 537-8688 FAX (313) 537 0233 - Provides gifted children ages 5-14 with small classes, diverse curriculum and special attention. Serving children in over 25 metro-area communities, since 1972. Offers early childhood education, summer enrichment and camp. Matzah Factory Plus! Jewish Community Center - Kahn Building 6600 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 661-7649 FAX: (248) 661-3680 The Douglas and Barbara Bloom Matzah Factory Bakery and Pesach Workshop opens two weeks before Pesach for hands- on experience baking shmura matza and making Pesach crafts for the seder table. School Break Days* Jewish Community Center - Kahn Building 6600 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 661-7687 FAX: (248) 661-3680 Contact Person: Amy Freedman anet and Jeff Weingarten consider themselves wandering Jews" because of the many places "It's not something they've lived since leaving their native Chicago. we could have done When they settled in Grosse Pointe Woods in 1987, they knew they were far from the city's core alone," Jeff says. Jewish community, but that didn't stop them from "There are a lot of establishing a Jewish community in their own back- yard. people making this "The kindling already existed; we lit the match," Jeff thing grow." says of the Grosse Pointe Jewish Council, which started in 1989 with 63 households and has grown to 180. "The council has become our family's extended family." The council represents a range of beliefs and levels of observance, but leans toward Reform Judaism. Members have established a Sunday school with curriculum devised by parents with help from local Jewish agencies. They celebrate bar and bat mitzvahs and share the second Passover seder as a community. They bought a Torah, built their own ark and hired a part-time rabbi who lives in the neighborhood. They hold High Holiday services and host outreach programs. "We're small and flexible, so we can identify a need and fill it without a moment's notice," says Jeff, who says others in similar predominantly non-Jewish neighborhoods around the country look to the council as a role model. As founders, Jeff and Janet have played many roles. Both serve on the executive board. Jeff now serves as unofficial historian. Janet is membership director, and spends much time welcoming people, drumming up volunteers and getting people involved. J Honorable Menschen Grosse Pointe Woods Keri Guten Cohen 98 JNSourceBook