Ilona Goldman of Oak Park with Alex Sapick, 16, of AROUND TOWN Farmington Hills, Yue Li, 16, of Farmington Hills and liana Goldman, 16, of Farmington Hills Mitzvah Moments Volunteers ease the transition to winter for homebound seniors. small army of volunteers wield- ing rakes, buckets and bags left Yeshivat Akiva in Southfield on a mission. Some 200 people broke into groups and set out to rake leaves, winter- ize windows, change light bulbs and do other household chores for dozens of homebound Seniors. "You really get hands-on and you get to see the fruits of your labor," said Marilyn Madorsky . of Bloomfield Robin Schwartz Township, one of the volunteers. Columnist The annual Fall Fix Up is a project of Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit. From morning to early afternoon on Nov. 13, participants visited the homes of about 40 JFS clients. "Without the volunteers, they wouldn't get this done during the year or they'd- have a much more difficult time doing it," said event chair Jack Cherney of West Bloomfield. A group of students from North Farmington High School went right to work, clearing piles of leaves from Sylvia Fox's lawn in Oak Park. Fox peeked out • her window to watch them and her eyes welled up with tears. "I'm gonna cry — I am so overwhelmed by this:' Fox said. "To me, it's a mitzvah. The Jewish com- munity in this area is so generous. They're always there,' she said. .A few miles away, the Orley, Kelman, . Aronovitz, and McClain/Madorsky . families teamed up to tackle another yard. • "We raked all the leaves and cleaned all the windows," said Amanda Orley, 14, of Bloomfield Hills. "It makes you feel good that you've done a good thing." Daniel Aronovitz of Huntington Woods participated with his daughters, Sarah,•14, and Anna, 10, to teach them the importance of helping -others. "As crazy as this world is, we're trying to -give them the building blocks of being good people and •I think this is where it starts," he said. Committee members for the 9th annual Fall Fix Up were: Dr. Steven Dunn and Jennifer Silverman of Franklin, Judy Stern of Pontiac, Micki Grossman and Karen Safran of Farmington Hills, and Nathan Shiovitz of West Bloomfield. Sponsors included Yeshivat Akiva, Broner Inc., Universal Bearing Co., Hansons Windows and Beaumont and PrOvidence hospitals. ❑ Below: Michael Gould, 8, of Farmington Hills and Noah Adler, 7, of Southfield Above: Chelsa Landau, 16, of 'Farmington Hills ° Right: Andrew Entin, 17, of Farmington Hills Below Right: Volunteer Lynn Maher of Berkley Below: Homeowner Sylvia Fox of Oak Park December 8 • 2005 21