•

Community

same: to care for the elderly and
provide the best possible services for
them. The Nov. 1 tribute dinner will
be a time to celebrate."

Meager Funding

In the days of the Jewish Old Folks
Home on Hastings Street, some of
the services included providing a
facility that maintained Jewish .
dietary laws. Many of the elderly
were unwilling to live with their
children who were becoming
Americanized and were no longer
observing the religious laws.
Funds to run the home came
from a variety of meager sources.
Some residents turned their life sav-
ings over to the home with the
understanding they would be taken
care of for the rest of their lives.
Collections at funerals, raffles,
memorial contributions and an
annual ball helped sustain the place
in the early years.
From Hastings, the home later
moved to Brush and Winder, Brush
and Edmund, then a 4.5-acre site on
Petoskey Street in 1936 as waiting
lists developed for entrance into the
home. The organization also became
affiliated with the Jewish Welfare
Federation and was incorporated
into the Jewish Home for the Aged.
This was followed in the mid-

1960s by construction of Borman
Hall and Prentis Manor as Detroit's
Jewish population moved to the
northwestern part of the city.
An important milestone came in
the early 1980s with creation of the
Edward I. and Freda Fleischman
Residence and the Louis C. and
Edith B. Blumberg Plaza. The 116-
bed facility at Maple and Drake
roads in West Bloomfield offers a
wide spectrum of living and service
options. In 1997, Jewish Home for
Aged changed its name to Jewish
Home and Aging Services.
Besides the Fleischman Residence
and Blumberg Plaza, JHAS includes
the LeVine Institure on Aging,
which provides education, training
and research to the Jewish elderly;
the Art of Jewish Caregiving
Training program; the Guardianship
Program, which provides legal repre-
sentation to vulnerable older adults;
the Jewish Community Chaplaincy
Program, for frail adults in non-
Jewish environments; the Jewish
Community Adult Day Care
Program at the Dorothy and Peter
Brown Center; and the Community
Liaison Service, which provides reli-
gious, cultural and spiritual support
at Menorah House and Elan Village
in Southfield and the Marvin and
Betty Danto Family Health Care
Center in West Bloomfield. ❑

Local. Gift Funds Israeli Day Care

vices for Detroit area
A gift from a Detroit-area
Jewish elderly.
donor will fund the construc-
In Israel, beneficiaries
tion of a day care center in
include Ben Teitel Freedom
the Jewish Federation of
Flight, Operation Exodus,
Metropolitan Detroit's
which transported 190
Partnership 2000 region in
Soviet Jewish immigrants
Israel.
to Israel in 1990; operating
The Ben N. Teitel
funds for the Ramah-
Charitable Trust, under the
Noam Summer Camp;
direction of trustee Gerald
and the renovation of
Cook of Farmington Hills,
Harriett and Ben Teitel
will provide funds for the
Senior Center in Jerusalem.
three-classroom building in
Gerald Cook
Partnership 2000 links
the Har Yona neighborhood
Jewish communities
of Nazareth Illit in the central
around the world with regions in Israel
Galilee. The building will be used as
for people-to-people relationships in cul-
both a day care center and an activity
ture, business, medicine, education and
center.
social services. The central Galilee is the
The Ben N. Teitel Charitable Trust
Detroit areas partnership region.
has made possible many programs and
The gift was made through the
services in the Detroit area and in Israel.
Jewish Agency for Israel and the United
In Detroit, beneficiaries include the
Jewish Communities' Israel Education
Harriett and Ben Teitel Jewish
Fund, which promotes religious toler-
Federation Apartments, the Ben Teitel
ance in Israeli society. Jane Sherman
Scholarship Fund at Hillel Day School
chairs the Israel Education Fund.
and an endowment fund to finance ser-

,r644:

6/30

2000

36

Jacobs family
gift provides
new hub
entry to
Kr in
West Bloomfield.

Shirlee and William

The Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit, which has
played an important part in the
lives of William (Billy) and Shirlee
Jacobs and their family, is the ben-
eficiary of a $1 million gift toward
renewing it as a site for recreation
and fitness.
•
The Jacobs' contribution to the
Millennium Campaign for
Detroit's Jewish Future will fund
construction of a hub (south)
entrance to all health and fitness
activity at the JCC in West
Bloomfield and function as a gate-
way to the health club and general
membership fitness areas.
A primary goal of the
Millennium campaign, which is
sponsored by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit and its banking/real estate
arm the United Jewish
Foundation, is to redevelop and
transform the JCC as a focus for
informal Jewish education.
"We're grateful for the Jacobs'
generosity," said JCC President
Larry Wolfe. "Their gift will help
the JCC remain an important
Jewish communal institution in
the heart of our neighborhoods."
Jacobs, a longtime member of
the health club, was instrumental
in promoting the JCC as host for
the JCC Maccabi Games. A star

squash player, he received a gold
medal in masters' tennis at the
1989 Maccabiah Games in Israel.
He also was active in the Special
Olympics and helped organize the
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, of
which he is a past president.
The Jacobs' son Robert, daugh-
ter Monni (Must) and four grand-
children grew up at the JCC,
enjoying Center offerings for day
care, sports and recreation.
"I grew up at the Meyers-Curtis
center," said Monni Must. "My
father would take me to the center
every day. It's how I grew up. My
kids did, too. In fact, one of them
was in the first babysitting service
at the West Bloomfield building
when she was an infant. Now, she's
21. "For my father — and for me
— the JCC was a center of our
lives. His life revolved around it."
Longtime supporters of
Federation's Annual Campaign,
the Jacobses, owners of the
Buddy's pizza chain, are philan-
thropic in other ways as well. For
nearly 25 years, Buddy's has held a
fundraiser, the annual Slice for
Life, to assist Detroit's hungry and
homeless people. Buddy's annual
event has resulted in more than $1
million being donated to the
Capuchin Community Center's
soup kitchen on Mt. Elliott.

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