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(248) 626-5603 Fax 248-932-0950 Residential & Commercial Remodeling wo4 7/28 2000 38 Building Quality Into Every Project With Unmatched Personal Service. NARK Featuring Andersen Windows Licensed & Insured That denial is what MJAC, a nine-year- old, ever-evolving organization, has vowed to tackle. The program began in 1991 in response to an article in the Jewish News about a Jewish man who died of AIDS in a Christian hospice program because no such services were available in the Jewish community. As treatments for the viral condition have improved, the focus of the organization has shifted from providing a place for Jews with the condition to die, to pro- viding information and support services to the Jewish and larger communities. Because of its service track record, MJAC is increasingly invited to share educational programming with secular organizations. That programming is rooted in many Jewish principles, including that of treating the body as a temple. In the last year, the organization has banded together with the Maimonides Society, an organization of Jewish doctors, to provide health care services and education in the Detroit Jewish Initiative, a program of the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit. The Initiative is concentrating these efforts through the Northwest Empowerment Health Care Project, a program that operates primarily out of the Adams-Butzel Community Center in Detroit, at the corner of Lyndon and Wyoming. The project provides free basic medical care, such as heart-rate checks and medical programs about dia- betes. MJAC's role is to provide the AIDS education component, running regular educational programs and chat sessions about prevention and absti- nence. Scope Widens While MJAC continues to provide ser- vices to Jewish schools and organiza- tions, the invitations to speak in public schools and secular organizations have been a welcome development. "In the Jewish community, we knock on the doors and say, 'You need us.' But in the public community, we have to wait for them to knock on our doors," said MJAC Executive Director Edwina Davis. "We have a good repu- tation and that is why they are coming to us." For its efforts, the organization last week was presented with a $25,000 non-solicited grant from MAC Cosmetics, a Toronto-based organiza- tion. "It is not every day that some organization comes to your door with a check that you didn't ask for," Dr. Fogelman said. "We are pleased they chose us." The organization's success has been attributed to its hardworking volun- teers, some of them with MJAC for many years now Southfield's Sylvia Block, who began answering phones for MJAC at its inception, now is an educator. Bringing the message of prevention to a number of schools and organizations each year, Block said she has gained as much as she has given. At MJAC, she said, "we have people of all ages there — teenagers, people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s. I think I am the oldest one there. But everyone meshes together, from all walks of life. We are the MJAC family. "For me, MJAC was a Godsend, especially when my son died." Block's son, Nathan, died of AIDS in February 1996. "It is a comfort to just walk in and know that they were there for you," she said. Block and the other volunteers have added a social-action component to their efforts more recently. MJAC put Simon House, a home for HIV-infect- ed mothers and their children, on its list of stops for educational programs. At the same time, regular social func- tions, such as an upcoming barbecue, have been scheduled. Also, a hospice social-action project was started to pro- vide visits to dying AIDS patients and their families. Dr. Fogelman said these efforts by MJAC will continue, just as the scourge of HIV and AIDS continue. "There is no cure and no vaccine for this," he said. "As long as the disease is around, we'll be around." ❑ BLUM Moments 'When ivIJAC started in 1991, it had t volunteers and no regular pro- 'no-. Now, there are 125 volun- or ing on committees and ntations. Since the current g year began on Sept. 1, ple have taken part in S educational programs. iMjAC's three-year-old ject (Educating Our about Homosexuality, mach) has made 13 pre- 800 people. Offices for '0161 Southfield Road, Southfield. For informa- AC at (248) 594- Anail at peo ,: