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T 4 iI Mr -IT T T

Front Lines

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This Week

Foot Power!

Businessman steps up
against breast cancer.

Robin Schwartz
Special to the Jewish News

A

mong the sea of coura-
geous walkers at the
Breast Cancer 3-Day,
Barry Blauer, 57, of Huntington
Woods definitely stands out from
the crowd. To begin with, he's
part of a small male minority
who participates in the 60-mile
treks to raise money for the
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation. But, Blauer has
an even bigger distinction. He
intends to be the only man ever
to walk 720 miles, participating
in all twelve 3-day walks across
the country.
"Each walk is a big event:' said
Blauer. "The whole thing is amaz-
ing. It's so well organized and you
meet so many people!'
Blauer's feat (no pun intended)
began Aug. 5-7 in Boston and
will end Nov. 10-12 in San Diego
with walks nearly every weekend
during that time. He'll only take
a few breaks from his rigorous
schedule on Labor Day weekend

Safety Review
In the wake of the Seattle Jewish
Federation shootings and recent
events in the Middle East, the
Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit's board met
on Aug. s8 to review security
procedures "already in place, for
all types of emergency and life
threatening situations:' said Mark
Lit, JCC executive director.
"This week alone, 33 JCC staff
were certified or recertified in
CPR, first aid and AED (automat-
ed external defibrillator) usage,"
said Lit on Aug. 11.
"Overall security has several
aspects, some visible and some
not. The board agreed that
it would be prudent to work
with the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit on a holistic
approach to the overall Jewish
community security issues. I
am working with key Federation
staff toward that end."

— Harry Kirsbaum, staff writer

10 August 17 2006

and for the Jewish High Holidays.
He has -four different pairs of
running shoes and alternates
between two pairs for each event.
During Michigan's 3-day, Aug.
11-13,
Blauer
walked
alongside
more than
1,700
people
from Stony
Creek
Metropark
in Shelby
Township
Barry Blauer
to Metro
Beach
Metropark in Harrison Township
"There's a spirit of kindness
that goes right throughout the
whole walk;' Blauer said. "You
hear stories — I've met some
real fighters who've fought the
disease."
No one in Blauer's own family
has been touched by cancer and
that's one thing that motivated
him to start walking in the first

Standing Together
Estie Bar-Sade, speaking on
behalf of the Detroit Jewish
community's Partnership 2000
region in Israel's Central Galilee,
wrote last week:
"We have buried two soldiers
in Nazareth lilit and Timrat, both
in the Central Galilee. I have just
come from the funeral. One sol-
dier was a son of a Russian fam-
ily who came to the country to
give their children a better future.
The father could not speak
Hebrew so he spoke Russian at-
his son's grave.
"This is how my days look -
like. After taking care of those
who suffer from anxiety, I attend
funerals. We are all expecting this
war to end soon."
The Central Galilee community
has expanded its efforts in help-
ing the soldiers who are fighting
in Lebanon. "We have adapted a
regiment of 700 combat soldiers
in Lebanon and we are trying to

place. The self-employed busi-
nessman and married father of
two sons and two daughters, ages
24-33, said he walks in honor of
his family's good health and to
support all of the survivors he
now knows.
"People mean a lot to me; I
always did charity walks and I
always donated to things that
don't affect my family:' Blauer
said. "I have four healthy kids
and I cel-
ebrate that
fact."
In addi-
tion to the
huge time
commit-
ment, there's
a significant
financial_
commit-
ment
associated
with what
Blauer's doing. Participants pay $90
to enter a 3-day walk and agree to
raise $2,200 for each event. The
money goes toward breast cancer
research, education, screening and
treatment. So far, Blauer is about
halfway toward his goal of raising
$26,400. He's held garage sales
and has solicited friends and even
strangers to raise money.
"If I fall short, I'll probably

make up the difference put of my
own pocket:' Blauer said.
If he surpasses his goal, he plans
to help other teammates raise the
money they need.
Then, there's the physical
toll the intense walks can take.
Participants make their treks
through different types of ter-
rain, sometimes in very hot or
inclement weather. They camp
out and sleep in tents during
each journey. Blauer suffered a
minor, but painful injury during
his first walk in Boston.
"I got a.serious blister on my
little toe',' he said."But, all you have
to do is keep walking and talk to a
survivor and you realize you don't
have anything to worry about"
Blauer said he hopes his
nationwide walk-a-thon will
motivate others to get involved in
the fight against breast cancer. "I
would say it's the most amazing
and worthwhile event you can get
involved in:' he said. "Yes, it takes
a lot of training; it takes some
serious fund raising — but it is
so rewarding."

raise the necessary funds to pro-
vide their basic needs:' Bar-Side
wrote.
Responding to Bar-Sade, Marta
Rosenthal, the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit lay leader
for Partnership 2000, wrote:
"Our hearts are all heavy with
emotion and grief for those who
have lost their dear family and
friends. We in Detroit are with
you every moment of every day.
Your days are long and hard, but
know we are one in our determi-
nation to keep our Jewish world
together in peace and security.
"Never again will we depend
on the world to protect us from
those who wish to destroy us. We
stand together now and always!"

So it didn't take him long to
say "yes" on Aug. 9 when he got
a call from ABC-TV's "Extreme
Makeover Home Edition." The
show's producers called after see-
ing the store's Web site.
The television crew is filming
for the fall season the evolution
of an 800-square-foot house in
Armada, in northern Macomb
County, into a 3,000-4,000-
square-foot home for a family of
seven.
"The father died on Christmas
Eve," Kupfer said, "and this
seemed like a nice thing to do."
That nice thing was donat-
ing 15-20 floral arrangements
Monday morning to fill the
home, just before the mother and
six children returned to see it for
the first time.
Kupfer, of Bloomfield Hills, has
only seen "Extreme Makeover"
a few times, but now has a good
reason to watch in the fall.

— Robert A. Sklar, editor

Coming Up Roses

Bob Kupfer has had all kinds of
requests in three decades at, and
as owner of, Tiffany Florist in
Birmingham.

❑

To make a donation to

Blauer's fundraising effort,
go to www.the3day.org .
Click on "donate" then
"Michigan" and type in
Barry Blauer.

— Alan Hitsky, Associate Editor

In Time Of War

Columnist Brian Blum provides
insight into Israel in time of
war. Look for his Dispatches
from Israel several times week-
ly, exclusively on our Web site.
Just visit JNonline.us and
click on Dispatches from
Israel on the left menu.

Latest From Israel

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from Israel? Check our stream-
ing news from Ynetnews.com .
Just visit JNonline.us and
click on a scrolling story on
the left.

JBlog

Laurie Freeman writes about
raising a daughter adopted
from China. But in recent blogs
she talks of life before her
daughter.
Only at JNonline.us . Just
click on JBlog on the menu on
the left.

Web Extras

Here's your chance to get
ahead of the printed issue of
the JN. In this spot look for a
stories that deal with breaking
news.
Just visit JNonline.us and
click on Web Extras on the
left.

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