4111111 1 3 1 COMMUNITY First in a yearlong series on battling hunger in Detroit. A Helping Hand Yad Ezra works hard to keep Jewish families from going hungry. SHELL! LIEBMAN DORFMAN Staff Writer ast Sunday afternoon, while many of us were tossing routine grocery pur- chases into supermarket baskets, dozens of our Jewish neighbors were doing the same. But the line they stood in was at Yad Ezra, and their groceries were a lifeline ensured by a community striving to eliminate hunger. No one ever expects to have to rely on others for food, but through the misfor- tune of layoffs, illness or just bad timing, 2,500 members of our Jewish community receive food every month from Yad Ezra, Michigan's only kosher food pantry. Yad Ezra clients include the elderly, unemployed, working poor, single parents and families in emergency situations. They come to the Berkley-based agency from as far as Flat Rock, Port Huron and Ann Arbor, and as close as Oak Park, Southfield and West Bloomfield. Remarkably, "one in 38 Metro Detroit Jews are clients of Yad Ezra," said Lea Luger, who is both development director and co-executive director of Yad Ezra, along with Elaine Ryke, who also serves as human services director. Luger relayed the stag- gering 0 0 statistic that 640 school children in our Jewish commu- nity live in households with food provided L by the agency. And many of these families are not those typically envisioned to be recipients. Where at one time new Americans and the elderly made up a large portion of Yad Ezra's clients, today they also include many you wouldn't expect to be there. "Our clients could be your neighbor," Ryke said. "People are losing their jobs every day and trying to make ends meet." While Yad Ezra keeps all client names and information confidential, some, like Cindy Kaminsky of Southfield, offered to share what brought her to Yad Ezra. Kaminsky, a Detroit native, and her family lived a financially comfortable life until her husband's debilitating, chronic illness β€” coupled with Cindy's parents moving into their home β€” made a drastic change in their lifestyle. "We have six adults living in our home,' she said. "It is important for us to be able to count on Yad Ezra. My husband became . disabled before they opened and there was no one to help with food on a regular basis." There have been times through the years when they have managed without Yad Ezra, but now that they are again in need, they knew where to turn. "There are so many people, like my grandparents (Cindy's parents), who need assistance," added Kaminsky's niece, Stacey Nelkin of West Bloomfield, who joined her aunt on this month's food pick- up. "Most of their money goes toward buy- ing medicine and there isn't enough left over for much food." After seeing how Yad Ezra helped the Kaminskys, Nelkin came this month to find out how to volunteer. Who's A Client? Clients receive a supplemental food package of nutritious, well-balanced foods once every four weeks, beginning the day they apply. Even those who don't qualify \vill receive food once β€” the day they come in. Packages include about two weeks worth of grocery items, with most clients using them to supplement food-stamp purchases. Each month, clients choose from chicken, eggs, beef, pasta, rice, fresh and canned fruits and vegetables, tuna and gefilte fish, peanut butter, milk, bread, matzah, juice, hot and cold cereal, soup mix, tomato sauce and flour. All food packages are based on family size. Each individual and family coming to Yad Ezra arrives with a story. Clients include a 26-old man going blind after a work acci- dent; a disabled couple in their 30s with a 5-year-old child; 45-year-old twins, born with birth defects, living independently on Social Security disability benefits; a wid- owed Russian journalist, fluent in five lan- guages, but unable to find work; a former solo violinist with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra; a 70-year-old man raising two disabled children and two grandchildren on $1,100 a month. Yad Ezra is open to them all, following a simple mission statement: "To provide supplemental kosher food packages and A Helping Hand on page 58 other necessities to needy Jewish families in the community." And even beyond that, Luger said, "We will service non:Jeyish-ificlividuals-oneβ€ž timesandliferi refer them to other agen- cies. We don't turn anyoneaway:2------ Tor _Maurice -bf Troy, that allowance made a huge impact. Not Jewish, he arrived at Yad Ezra earlier this month with his wife and one of his four young chil- dren. Once gainfully employed, he and his wife have been looking for work for the last year. "You just never think it can happen to you',' said his wife. "You're always just a couple of pay- checks away from scraping together a little bit of cash to buy groceries:' Maurice said. "You just never know." Becoming a Yad Ezra client involves only a brief intake process, where proof of income eligibility require- ments are assessed. N YAP EZRA