INSIDE:
Mazel
Toy!
Community
Calendar
40
118
Volunteers Micki Grossman
and Wendy Evans are among
this year's United Way
Community Services honorees.
A
•
Wendy Evans
SHARON LUCKERMAN
StafiWriter
T
here's time for her family and then for
the rest of the world. My mother made
time for all of it," said Marci
Grossman of West Bloomfield, sharing
her pride in mom Micki Grossman, one Detroit's
top volunteers.
Micki Grossman of Farmington Hills and
Wendy Evans of Bloomfield Hills, both Jewish
community members, are among the eight out-
standing volunteers selected this year for a Heart
of Gold Award. Sponsored by Detroit-based
United Way Community Services, the Heart of
Gold is the most recognized award for volun-
tarism in southeast Michigan.
More than 1,100 volunteers attended the 2002
Celebrate Volunteers Luncheon April 24 at
Detroit's Cobo Hall.
"These special individuals we honor today ...
gave their heart and soul unselfishly to benefit the
lives of others," said Virgil H. Carr, president and
CEO of United Way Community Services.
Grossman said she was shocked to learn of her
Micki Grossman
selection for the award. "I don't do great things,
but I use my, time in a way that makes sense to
me," she said.
What makes sense to Grossman is helping a
myriad of causes.
"She houses the homeless at her synagogue,
Adat Shalom, as well as tutors children in Detroit
and in Southfield public schools; she's a docent at
the Holocaust Memorial Center [HMC] — to
name just some of her work," said Michelle
Greenstein, program director of Volunteer
Services at Southfield-based Jewish Family
Service, where Grossman also volunteers.
Greenstein and also the Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit, nominated
Grossman for the Heart of Gold.
"What stands out about Micki is she volunteers
with so many different populations of people and
does it thoroughly," Greenstein said.
Grossman is quick to credit her parents for
inspiration. After the Holocaust, she remembers
her father bringing survivors home from shul for
a meal, and he also would leave anonymous gifts
of chicken, bread and fish on their doorsteps.
Grossman taught at a public school in Allen
Park before leaving to raise her children Ross,
now 41; Marci, 38; and Gael, 34 — "my best
job," she said.
Tragedy struck 16 years ago when Grossman's
husband was killed in a car accident. She had just
started working as a volunteer and decided to
keep on going. Grossman is a tour guide at the
HMC, along with volunteering at the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and the West
Bloomfield Jewish Community Center. Working
with new immigrants and seniors is not only fun,
she said, but also gets her out of the house and
meeting people.
Grossman helped create the Detroit Jewish
Coalition for Literacy, a project of the Jewish
Community Council. Phyllis Jarvis, project coor-
dinator, works with Grossman.
"Micki inspires prospective volunteers and peo-
ple coming back to volunteering to take the leap
to get on board and make a contribution," Jarvis
said. "Her commitment, dedication and enthusi-
asm are incredible."
HEARTS OF GOLD on page 34
5/10
2002
33