Saturday, Sept. 16
10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

M

Sunday, Sept. 17
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

I 11

IN THE PARK

E st

traminnn

Shain Park,

i

Js_J

VOLUNTEERS

downtown Birmingham

COMMON GROUND SANCTUARY

• More than 190
juried artists
exhibiting fine art
and fine craft
Silent Auction
Food and Musical
Entertainment
• Children's Art
Activities
• Free Admission

Sponsored by:
Puite Homes Corporation; Loomis
Sayles & Co., LP.; Observer &
Eccentric Newspapers; Saturn of
Troy, Saturn of Southgate; Shirley K.
Schlafertoundation; HOUR Detroit;
Nordstrom; Style Magazine; WNIC
100.3 FM; DTE Energy Foundation;
Jimi's Family Restaurant; M-CARE;
Michigan Heart Group; Astrein's
Creative Jewelers: Comerica Charitable
Foundation; Corvus International;
Detroit Public Television; WRCJ 90.9
FM; Edith S. and Barry D. Briskin;
Fifth Third Bank; Health Alliance Plan;
National City Bank ; Office Depot;
Rochester Insurance Agency;
Sheldon Real Estate of Oakland, Inc.;
The Taubman Company.

War-Time Help

Local volunteers spent weeks
at an Israeli army base.

Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News

Sukkah Special

10x10

Durable Plastic Tarp
Easy Construction

$400

Call Tradition! qi-adition.

elping Israel from afar dur-
ing the recent war was not
enough for foudocal Jews
who spent weeks volunteering on an
Israeli army base packaging medical
supplies.
Volunteers for Israel (VFI), a non-
political group that puts Jews and
non-Jews from around the world to
work in civilian capacities on Israeli
army bases, helped the four meet the
needs of soldiers while meeting their
own need to be in Israel to help.
"I needed td go there so that they
— the soldiers, the people in the
shops — could see that even in a time
of war there are those who care and
love Israel, who would be there," said
Alan Vosko, 61, of Farmington Hills. "It
was the perfect way for me to help."
As the war raged, Vosko, who hadn't
been to Israel since his son's bar
mitzvah in 1984, headed to Israel for
a two week stay on an army base out-
side Tel AVIV. •
"I couldn't have picked a better
time to be there because it all felt so
right:' he said. "Every single minute of
every single day, everything we were
working on was critical. The medical
supply kits we were preparing for the
paramedics were being shipped out
every night. We were sad they were

-

elson

licia

248.5570109

r.

16

September 14 * 2006

needed so urgently, but we were elated
that we were able to do it?'
David Loeffler had lived in Israel,
traveled there often, and participated
in VFI five times. When the war broke
out, he knew it was time to go back.
"I felt I could contribute something
at the base," said Loeffler, 56, of Oak
Park, who had been on the base twice
before. "I wanted to see family and
friends and give them the message
firsthand that they hadn't been forgot-
ten.
"There N, rere a lot more soldiers at
the base this time, and it was a whole
different feeling," he explained. "I'd
listen to a transistor radio while I
worked and on the hour you'd hear
when the funerals would be for the
people killed the day before, and you'd
hear about the people in the shelters?'
Another difference was the amount
of work that needed to be done.
"We worked almost around the
clock, which is something we have
never done:' said Barbara Cantor,
who has volunteered with VFI
times since 1990. The usual workday
is eight hours, but many volunteers
worked 12-15 hours, joining Israeli
soldiers who were bused in to work
throughout the night.
Unlike the others, Cantor, 73, of
West Bloomfield, had scheduled her
trip before the Ivar broke out, but she
never considered canceling. Volunteers

