T is Week
Staff Notebook
Neither Rain
Nor Snow
JARC party-goers brave storm
to celebrate Chanukah.
SHARON LUCKERMAN
StaffWriter
is
ven a snowstorm couldn't derail one of JARC's biggest events of
the year — its annual Chanukah dinner-dance at Congregation
Beth Shalom in Oak Park. Snow was falling Dec. 2, and by
evening it had become the worst weather of the season so far.
Joyce Holmes, director of JARC's Shetzer Independent Living Services
Division, considered canceling the party. However, the DJs from Joe Cornell
Entertainment were coming, the hall was decorated, the caterer was there and
she knew current and former JARC consumers were looking forward to the
gathering. About 130 guests had made reservations.
So, wondering if anyone would show on such a night, JARC staff members
were pleasantly surprised to see 100 people turn out. JARC consumers, plus board
members, families and volunteers, all had braved the storm to attend the party.
Marc and Stacy Wittenberg of Birmingham and Ron and Anita Taylor of
Bloomfield Hills were the evening's underwriters.
Said former JARC consumer Harry Goldman, 49, of Southfield: "The best
thing about the party was seeing all the people I haven't seen in a long time
and having a night of fun while celebrating Chanukah." 1:11
Above: Dancing the
hora are Abby Katchke,
Harry Goldman, Alicia
Nelson and Marsha Kowal,
all of Southfield.
Right: Cantor Samuel
Greenbaum of Beth Shalom
leads Chanukah songs at
the JARC dinner-dance.
About a dozen of the guests came from
the Detroit area, including Zagon's parents
Sherri and Eddie Lumberg and her brother
Michael Lumberg, all of West Bloomfield.
In all, the event raised $200,000, which
will be used to fund from two to four
research projects to find a medical treat-
ment or cure for lung cancer. "When
Melissa spoke [at the event], she was an
inspiration to everyone who was there ...
she is so courageous," said Barbara Stewart
of Bloomfield Hills.
The foundation hopes to hold an event
in Detroit next year.
For information on the LUNGevity Foundation
call (773) 539-6060.
LUNGevity
supporters Eddie
Lumberg and
Michael Lumberg
of West Bloomfield,
founder Melissa
Zagon, of
Northbrook, Ill.,
and her mother
Sherri Lumberg,
of West Bloomfield.
1
LUNGevity Lives!
he event was spectacular and the energy
high because everyone understood the
T importance of our cause and the urgency
of our mission," said Joel Massel, executive director of
the LUNGevity Foundation. The foundation's second
annual benefit was held Nov. 17 at the Westin O'Hare
Hotel in Rosemont, Ill.
Started by former Detroiter Melissa Zagon, 35,
now of Northbrook, Ill., and six other lung cancer
survivors, LUNGevity is the first organization dedi-
cated exclusively to raising awareness and funds for
lung cancer research.
"About 450 people attended and were incredibly
generous," said Massel.
12/20
2002
14
—Sharon Zuckerman
In Search Of Sloma Eck
aka Anton Becker
few years after Rosemarie Eck's family emi-
grated from Germany to the United States in
the summer of 1951, her parents separated
and she lost touch with her father.
Now, in a search for him or for members of his
family, she was able to determine some background
on the man who went by the name of both Sloma
(Saul) Eck and also Anton Becker. "In 1951, my fam-
ily and I were sponsored by the Jewish Community
Council in Flint, to emigrate to the U.S. from
Germany," wrote Eck in an e-mail to Beverly Yost,
community liaison of the Jewish Community Council
of Metropolitan Detroit.
"My father was a concentration camp survivor — I
believe from Auschwitz — and we were living in a work
camp in Lechfield, Germany, before coming to the U.S."
Her research determined he was born Sept. 17,
in Lemberg, Poland. His parents, Wolf Eck
1 905,
and Rosa Hauben, both died around 1920. The
Social Security number Eck located for her father
was last active in 1959.
"At one point, he tried to enter Mexico," Eck
wrote. "I believe that this was around 1959, which
coincides with the last entry under his Social
Security number."
While Eck says her father may have had family in
New York City, there is also a chance that some
moved to the Detroit area. "My father is most likely
dead now," says Eck, who lives in Chicago. "But I
would like to find any family or connection to him."
To offer information on Sloma Eck/Anton Becker
or his family, please call Shelli Liebman Dorfman at
(248) 865-6341 or e-mail:
sdo rfman@ thej ewishnews. co rn
—Shelli Liebman Dorfman