AROUND TOWN

Tapping Into Aid

Tapper's stages gala to benefit HIV-AIDS relief.

Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg and Eric Grossman, both of Southfield

Bryan Robbins, Julia Tapper and Laura Rodziewicz, all of Farmington Hills

T

hey danced the night away amid gold-foil-wrapped tables and a
room decorated in dangling twinkle lights. More than 400 people
who attended the Precious Lives, Precious Metals charity gala
at Tapper's Diamonds & Fine Jewelry in West Bloomfield also enjoyed a
strolling dinner and lavish live and silent auctions, all while helping repair
the world.
The crowd, which gathered on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, raised $160,000
to support HIV-AIDS relief efforts in South Africa and Michigan. The ini-
tiative, started by Tapper's in honor of their 30th
anniversary, will help promote AIDS education
and prevention — particularly in South Africa,
which supplies most of the platinum in the world
and where nearly 12 percent of the country's plati-
num miners die from AIDS each year.
"How can we not feel a responsibility to the
community that works to provide the raw materi-
als used in the jewelry we sell to our customers
every day?" said Steven Tapper, vice president
and co-owner of Tapper's along with his brother,
Howard.
The family's goal is to raise at least $300,000 for
AIDS relief, $10,000 for each year they've been in
business. As an incentive, anyone who donates at least $30 to the cause will
receive a $30 Tapper's gift certificate. The store will also donate $30 to the
fund each time a customer purchases platinum bridal jewelry through the
end of March 2008. Tapper's opened a second location at Twelve Oaks Mall
in Novi this year.
The Tapper brothers say their Jewish heritage helped inspire this huge
charitable initiative. "We're taught that every human being is responsible
for the other',' said Howard Tapper. "If you save one life, it's as if you have
saved the entire world:'
Spotted in the crowd at the Tapper's gala were: Fran and Aaron Martin,
Judy and Irving Blau, Dorothy and Eddy Barak, all of West Bloomfield;
Marjory and Donald Epstein of Bloomfield Hills; and Mark Israel and
Edee Simon, both of Boston. II

A18

December 13 a 2007

Left: Steven and Patti
Tapper and Susan and
Howard Tapper

Below left: Larry and
Nori Rubin of West
Bloomfield

Tappers' Precious Lives, Precious
Metals initiative benefits the Midwest
Aids Prevention Project (MAPP), one of
Michigan's largest non-profit HIV-AIDS-
focused organizations, and YouthAIDS,
an international HIV-AIDS education
and prevention program providing ser-
vices in South Africa. For more
information or to donate, go to
www.preciouslivespreciousmetals.org .