This Week

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Giving Time

From the pages of the Jewish News for
this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.

46:44410

Friendship Circle names Volunteer Club in honor of supporters Morrie and Sybil Fenkell.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Stair Writer

t last year's annual Friendship
Circle dinner, director Rabbi
Levi Shemtov spoke about a
tradition of miracles.
He spoke about leaving each of the
previous two Friendship Circle dinners
with donor commitments for new pro-
grams. His organization provides assis-
tance to families with children with
special needs.
"I fully expected a miracle that
night," Rabbi Shemtov says.
And he was right. Immediately after
he finished speaking, Morrie Fenkell
of Birmingham approached him.
"He made a very large commitment
to the Friendship Circle," Rabbi
Shemtov says. "And that's the miracle.
Morrie Fenkell is a miracle."
The donation, for an undisclosed
amount, was made to the general fund
of the Friendship Circle, which
Fenkell calls "an extremely worthwhile
situation." He let the rabbi decide how
to use the gift.
The choice was made to earmark the
contribution to the volunteer sector, of
Friendship Circle, an area Rabbi Shemtov
felt made the strongest impact on Fenkell.
At the fifth annual Friendship
Circle dinner, taking place
Wednesday, June 13, at the Hyatt
Regency Dearborn, Fenkell and his -
wife will be honored with the official
naming of the Morrie and Sybil
Fenkell Volunteer Club.
From the first introduction to the
seven-year-old West Bloomfield-based
Lubavitch Foundation Friendship
Circle, Morrie Fenkell was moved by
the volunteer concept.
"While most people were impressed by
how we help the children, Morrie kept
raving to everyone who would listen
about the volunteers," Rabbi Shemtov
says. "Since then, Morrie has introduced
us to a lot of his friends and just as I try

"I am amazingly
humbled by
the way people
support our
organization.
I am overwhelmed
by the generosity
of so many people
who believe in
the program.
We survive

A

— Rabbi Levi Shemtov

to talk about any of our programs he
goes into his routine about how we train
volunteers. He is a true fan of the pro-
gram and understands its beauty."
Says Fenkell, "The first dinner I
attended did it for me. I saw the kids
in the Volunteer Club and their com-
mitment and how they help other kids
and allow parents to have a little time
for themselves."
One of his grandchildren volunteers
with the group and another plans to
join soon.
In 1995, the Friendship Circle estab-
lished a tutoring program with eight
teenaged volunteers, meeting at Beit
Kodesh synagogue in Livonia to help
children with special needs with' their
homework. Today, the program has
expanded into a club of more than 360
young volunteers. They meet weekly
either in homes of "special friends" or
at the Children's Circle, .a three-hour,

supervised Sunday program including
socialization, swimming and singing at
the West Bloomfield Jewish
Community Center.
"I expect another miracle this year,"
Rabbi Shemtov says of his hope for
this year's dinner. "I am amazingly
humbled by the way people support
our organization. I am overwhelmed
by the generosity of so many people
who believe in the program. We sur-
vive on miracles." ❑

One hundred years of memories of
the Detroit section of the National
Council of Jewish Women were
exhibited at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield.
Darryl Litberg was installed as
the new president of the Temple
Israel Brotherhood.
U.S. Defense Secretary Dick
Cheney announced that the U.S.
would store $200 million of
American weapons in - Israel.

Four stained glass windows by
Yaacov Agam were installed in the
Minnie Petrie Synagogue of
Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion in New York.
Professor Paul Gould of
Southfield was elected president of
the International Cooperative
Education Association.

Itkat 514',/,,,A114tRgil
President Georges Pompidou of
France visited the Israeli pavilion at
the International Air Show at Le
Bourget Airport.
Yitzhak Rabin announced his res-
ignation as Israel's ambassador to
the United States.
Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek
spoke at an Israel Bonds dinner in
Windsor at Congregation Shaar
Hashomayim.

Rita Sloan, senior at Oak Park
High School, gave a piano recital at
the Jewish Community Center.
Susan Kobel, senior at Detroit's
Mumford High School, won a
scholarship for 14 months of study
in Germany.

4 4‘

The Friendship Circle Dinner
2001 will take place Wednesday,
June 13, in the Hubbard Ballroom
at the Hyatt Regency Dearborn.
Hors d'oeuvres are 5:30 p.m.; 6:30
p.m. dinner and program. Cost:
$45. For information or reserva-
tions, call (248) 855-1212.

s,t,=A,,,

The Detroit visit of Israel Prime
Minister David Ben-Gurion was
marked by a meeting with Henry
Ford II.
Irving Belz of Memphis, Tenn.,
became the American championship
speller at the National Spelling Bee.
— Compiled by Sy Manello,
editorial assistant

J.6

MEMICOMMINEMEMEN&

6/1

2001

■•■ •14.4

35

