Week

Bridging The Divide

Nate Shapiro is an easy choice for JCCouncil's first Activist of the Year Award.

HARRY KIRSBAUM
Staff Writer

ate Shapiro once asked a homeless man at a
feeding station he set up in front of the
Greyhound bus station what the man would
do if he didn't get enough money to eat.
"I'll walk around the neighborhood for a while,
and ring a bell. If no one answers, I'll break in and
take what's there," the h meless man said. "What
kind of a world is this?" Shapiro wondered. "If
you're hungry enough you'll do anything. This is the
reason I got involved."
Shapiro has always taken the personal
approach to tikkun olam, repairing the world.
He is 81 years old, looks 61, and has the ide-
alism of a 21-year-old.
After years of trying to help those in dire need,
the Southfield grandfather of four will receive the
first Activist of the Year Award presented by the
Jewish Community Council, on May 10 at
Temple Beth El.
The award was developed to honor an individ-
ual whose efforts have helped to achieve
JCCouncil's mission. Shapiro's life embodies that
mission, said David Gad-Harf, JCCouncil exec-
utive director. "He has dedicated his life to
working with people from a vast array of ethnic,
racial and religious groups, and he has given of
his time to improve the city of Detroit. We see
him as a role model."

N

packed a lunch for me," he said. "When I came
home from school, I slept two or three hours then
went to work. I paid for tuition, bought a car for
$15, and I led a good life."
Shapiro was drafted in December 1940, served in
the Army Corps of Engineers, took part in the D-
Day invasion in Europe and, by the end of the war,
was a battalion commander. Only 188 of the original
1,200 men in the battalion escaped injury or death.
He returned home in 1946, married his wife,
Ruth, in 1948, and began to raise a family. He now
has two sons, two daughters and four grandchildren.
In 1955, he was awarded "Engineer of the Year"

I'm proud of the things he's done," said son Ken.
"I've learned from him that you can spread the
wealth. You can be successful, but putting it away it
your bank account really isn't what life is about. I'v e
watched him help a lot of people, often in anony-
mous ways."
Shapiro's office has hired students from nearby
Mumford High School for part-time jobs during th
school year and full-time summer help.
" When they graduate from high school and get int
college, we help pay for tuition and books for the
ones who live in Detroit," he said matter-of-factly.
So far, 116 have graduated from college, and som

Nate Shapiro, in his Detroit o ice.

Early Years

Born in Detroit's Hastings Street neighbor-
hood, Shapiro was raised in a racially diverse area
where everyone helped each other.
"When a black mother died, everybody brought
food, then somebody did the laundry for the fami-
ly," he said.
Growing up, his running buddies included the late
Coleman Young, Detroit's former mayor.
Shapiro took a civil service job working the
morgue elevator at Detroit Receiving Hospital, the
best job he says he ever had.
"The only time it went down was when somebody
died," he said. "I worked six days a week with noth-
ing to do."
When he entered Wayne University to become an
engineer, Shapiro did his homework at the morgue
and set up a drawing board in the basement.
When I left in the morning, the hospital chef

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2001

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by the Detroit Common Council, and a year later
founded Consulting Engineering Associates, a
Detroit firm that designs utilities, traffic signals and
water mains.
He moved his family to Southfield in 1967,
because at that time property was cheaper than in
Detroit. His home cost $42,000.
Even though he moved out of Detroit, his rela-
tionship with Coleman Young remained strong.
And, as Shapiro's success grew, so did his sense of
tikkun olam.

One Soul At A Time.

Shapiro still works full time, and both his sons are
engineers in the 44-member firm.
"I've learned a lot about business and ethics, and

are working with him now.
He served on the Temple Israel board for about
eight years in the 1980s, and helped with the tem-
ple's annual week of feeding the homeless, but tha n
wasn't enough. Shapiro decided to get more involv
in helping the truly destitute.
"They're good people, they just had a bad break
he said. "We need to help them get back their pro
ductive lives instead of hiding them."
When the city of Detroit wanted the homeless
population included in the 2000 U.S. Census,
Shapiro could be found from February through M
feeding street people with a carload of food every
day from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
"We told them in February, 'If you come out th,
day we count the Census, we will feed you for the
next several months,"' he said.