Metro
Volunteer Patty Shook of West
Bloomfield sorts food.
Humble Beginnings
An agency for Jews in need
arose from grassroots efforts.
SHELL( LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
ad Ezra was founded in 1990 to provide kosher food to
needy Jewish families in southeastern Michigan.
"The families involved were receiving [government] food
os stamps, which only provided enough food for part of the month,
so we stepped in to supplement the rest," said Mickey
Eizelman, one of five founders of the agency, along with Gary
Dembs, Eliezer Kaplan, Howard Zoller and
Jim Macy, then executive director of the
Food Bank of Oakland County.
"The idea at the beginning was to help
provide a food package that could be com-
bined with food the clients may have
already had."
Jeanette Eizelman, Mickey's mother and
a former caterer, was recruited as Yad
Ezra's first executive director.
Rabbi Schnipper
"She created a menu of items that could
help stretch out that food," said Mickey
Eizelman, a Yad Ezra past president.
"We were shocked at how many people came to us right from
the start," he said "We went from zero to 100 families in no
time By the end of the first year, Yad Ezra had more than 600
clients. No one ever expected that amount"
Yad Ezra, which means "helping hand" in Hebrew, was start-
ed with seed money from the Max M. Fisher Foundation. An
independent agency, Yad Ezra has always relied on cortbibu-
tions.
The first major donations came through Rabbi A. Irving
Schnipper, then rabbi of Beth Abraham Hillel Moses, now Beth
Ahm in West Bloomfield.
"He made Yad Ezra the house charity for his shut," Eizelman
said.
"We never thought there were Jews on the poverty line,"
Rabbi Schnipper said "When we realized it, I wanted everyone
to get on the band wagon. We hung signs in our synagogue ask-
ing for donations in multiples of chat [181."
His members also were among Yad Ezra's first volunteers.
"Some months, what we could distribute was based on how
well the fund-raising
went," Ezelman said.
Humble
Beginnings
on page 59
Volunteer Joyce Sachs of Ranklin works on a package while volunteers Bert Stein of West Bloomfield and
Hermina Hirsch of Southfield fill orders.
A Helping Hand from page 57
In addition, appropriate foods
and other Jewish holiday essen-
tials are distributed prior to Rosh
Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot,
Chanukah, Tu b'Shevat, Purim
and Shavuot.
The pick-up process runs as
smoothly as possible. "It is so
important that clients are made
to feel comfortable said Yad
Ezra's President Paul Finkel.
"There is no shame in asking for
assistance for so many other
things, like if someone is sick,
but we know how difficult it can
be to ask for food. That's why our
building has the privacy of a
parking lot that enters off a side
street and private meeting rooms
for clients:' he said.
Added Luger, "Our volunteers
are very respectful of clients,
treating them with dignity"
"I understand no one wants to
be there says longtime volunteer
Jerry Saginaw of West
Bloomfield. "So I like to be the
first one they see at the front of
the line, to shake hands and say
hello."
One thing Stacey Nelkin
noticed was respect for clients'
time. It took only 15 minutes for
her aunt to park and return to
the car with groceries.
YAD EZRA OFFERINGS
A- DAIRY
-
PROTEIN
FRUITNEG
CARBS
58
Voluntee r Satisfaction
At designated times five days a
week, voluntee rs distribute food
to clients. Som e teens who help
are fulfilling ba r and bat mitzvah
community sery ice hours; some
adults have been volunteering
since the agency's founding 15
years ago.
"I remember, wh en I was a lit-
tle girl, my mother c ollected
coins and food befor e the holi-
days for people who n eeded
help:' said Dotty Smi of West
Bloomfield, a longtime weekly
volunteer. "Jews always help Jews,
so I walked into Yad Ezr a and
A Helping Hand on p age 60
Dry milk
Margarine
Cottage cheese
Macaroni and cheese
Tuna
Chicken
Ground Meat
Peanut Butter
Gefilte fish/salmon
Eggs
Juice
Oranges/apples
Canned fruit
Tomato sauce
Hot and cold cereal
Noodles and soup mix
Rice
Pasta
Potatoes
Onions
Canned vegetables
Kasha
Matzah/crackers
Flour
Bread
September 29 2005 J