INSIDE: Community Calendar 37 Mazel Toy! 39 OPEN-HEARTED HEROES Senior adult volunteers win "Eight Over 80" hall offame honors. 33 BILL CARROLL Special to the Jewish News fight men and women with diverse back- grounds and interests, but who are all devot- ed to charity work and volunteerism are this year's honorees in the Jewish Apartments & Services Eight Over 80 program. They will be inducted into the Senior Adult Hall of Fame Sunday, May 4, as the organization marks a decade of honoring the senior adult "heroes" in the Jewish community. The 10th annual program will be held from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Norma Jean and Edward Meer Jewish Apartments on the Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus in West Bloomfield. Funds raised from the event provide low-income JAS residents with food subsidies to take care of their daily kosher meals. More than half of the 800 residents rely on these food subsidies. The eight honorees are Leonard P. Baruch, Lester Burton, Frita Roth Drapkin, Alan D. Kandel, Bea Kriechman, Leah Snider, Walter M. Stark and Lenore Dunsky Weiss. Two honorees are nursing injuries. While walking her dog recently, Drapkin, 90, of Southfield, slipped on the ice and broke her leg. Kriechman, 83, suffered multiple bruises when she fell in her Farmington Hills apart- ment. Both now are in convalescent homes, but still are hoping to attend Sunday's program. Here's a closer look at the eight honorees: Leonard P. Baruch Leonard P. Baruch of Southfield figures he's had five different careers during his 80 years — starting in a library and ending in a cemetery. When his father died at 42, Baruch was 13; he worked as a page at a Detroit library branch while attending Hutchins Intermediate School. "The school librarian Baruch befriended me and helped me overcome my grief," he said. "Because of these experiences, I took a strong lik- ing to library work." He attended Northern High School and obtained a degree in education and library science from Wayne (State) University, both in Detroit. He spent 32 years in the Detroit school system and, ironically, ended up replacing the Hutchins librarian who had consoled him. As president of the Southfield Library Board and a member of the Oakland County Library Board, he developed a program to bring books to residents of assisted living homes. Baruch continued a lifetime of working with children by teaching and serving as youth director at Congregation Shaarey Zedek's religious school, develop- ing many special programs for children. He also helped operate a highly successful private children's camp for 26 years. Baruch's only venture into the private business sector was when he spent 10 years as vice president of the Ace- Tex Co. in Detroit, mainly handling union matters and public relations. Baruch was asked to return to Shaarey Zedek in 1987 as acting executive director for a short time. "It was sup- posed to be for three months, but I stayed for 12 years," he said. He holds the title of executive director emeritus. Following that "retirement," he was asked to be execu- tive director of Clover Hill Park Cemetery in Troy, and is currently overseeing an extensive expansion program. He and his wife, Ann, have been married for 51 years and have three children and eight grandchildren. Lester Burton While building homes, offices and apartments for 63 years, Burton, 88, of Bingham Farms also has built an impeccable profes- sional reputation and given his own personal financial support for countless Jewish charities — all while winning two bouts with cancer. After attending Detroit's Denby High School, he Burton graduated from Wayne's law school. In 1939, he took over the building business founded by his father, Barnett J. Burton, in 1912. The firm still is flourishing as the Burton-Katzman Development Co. in Bingham Farms. "I'm proud of the fact that I built about 10,000 homes and never was sued for any reason by an owner, contractor or supplier," said Burton. He has volunteered his time and expertise in build- ing, zoning and landscaping matters for several Jewish organizations. He served eight terms as chairman of the state Department of Licensing and Regulation's Builders Division and is a member of the Detroit Builders Association's Hall of Fame. He has arbitrated disputes between builders and homeowners and also delivered lectures at state colleges, always donating his fees to charity. When Burton's daughter contracted multiple sclerosis at an early age, he became dedicated to comforting her and also raising funds and serving on the National MS Board. He played the flute for many years with the Wayne State Orchestra, "but I had to give it up last year because chemotherapy treatments left my fingers numb," he said. Burton and his wife, Evelyn, to whom he has been married for 57 years, also have four sons. Frita Roth Drapkin Drapkin came to the United States from Czechoslovakia at age 11 and, through grit and deter- mination, became a teacher, lecturer, artist and author of humor books. She per- formed her first act of kind- ness at 13, when she loaned her new coat to a shivering gentile girl in school, then incurred her mother's wrath when the girl refused to return it. This started Drapkin's lifelong mission of giving to Drapkin the community, and con- tinued with performances with other children in hind-raising shows to benefit orphans. She still raises funds for orphanages and med- ical treatment centers in Israel as president of the Detroit chapter of Jewish Women's International. She attended Western High School, got a master's degree in education from Wayne University and embarked on a 40-year teaching career at Detroit ele- mentary schools. Without pay, she tutored many of her students who needed help, but couldn't afford it. "My compensation came from the good feeling I got when they achieved," she said. HEROES on page 30 5/2 2003 29