Clockwise from top:

Zishe Klainberg of Oak Park
and Bernie Jonas of West Bloomfield
prepare Passover packages.

Dr. Jim Labes of Bloomfield Hills
and Diane Rimar of Oak Park
bag Passover packages.

Chuck Sachse of Bloomfield Hills
prepares plants for Yad Ezra clients.

Ralph Greenberg of West Bloomfield
readies a sea of onions for
Passover food packages.

.„,

YAD EZRA
VOLUNTEERS
PREPARE 1,100
PASSOVER PACKAGES
FOR THOSE IN NEED

SHARON LUCKERMAN
Editorial Assistant

A

woman called the other day who didn't
have food to prepare a Shabbos meal. An
elderly gentleman called asking for Shabbos
candles he couldn't afford this month," said
Yad Ezra co-director Lea Luger, describing a typical day
at Michigan's only kosher food pantry.
"Yesterday, a woman called who works in the
community. She and her husband were experiencing
rough financial times. All I have to feed my family,'
she told me, 'is pasta.'"
All were helped. Yad Ezra in Oak Park is one
organization people in the community can turn to
year-round for basic provisions when times get
tough. The pantry is sustained, Luger says, by the
"incredible outpouring of support the community
gives us to help these families."
These and other clients were invited to return

4/6
2001

12

Monday, April 2, when special Passover packages
were distributed.
For the ninth year, the Moies Chetim
Organization of Detroit and Yad Ezra sponsored
special Passover food packages. Volunteers and staff
gathered at the Yad Ezra warehouse to prepare the
packages from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, April 1.
"Orthodox, Conservative and Reform all banded
together to make sure that Jewish people could cele-
brate Passover in the ritual way," said Zishe
Klainberg, a volunteer from Oak Park.
Families received matzah, coffeecake, gefilte fish,
macaroons, juice and chickens. This year, volunteers
also packed Passover guides in Russian and English,
Haggadahs in English and Hebrew donated by the
Agency for Jewish Education and flowering plants.
"The Passover campaign makes you realize how we
are all one large Jewish community," said volunteer and
Yad Ezra board member Barbara Sachse of Bloomfield
Hills. "It brings nachas (joy) to all participants."

❑

