Metro

LIBERTY. AND THE PI

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Federation offers voluntary buyouts
to 14 employees.

Alan Hitsky
Associate Editor

he Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit is trying
to make more money available
for local and overseas needs. That, cou-
pled with a weak Michigan economy,
has led Federation to offer voluntary
buyouts to
14 employees
who have a
minimum of 15
years of service
and are at least
54 years old.
As of last
week, 12 of the
14 employees
Dorothy Benyas
had accepted
the buyouts.
The deadline for
acceptance was this week.
"We offered this program to address
budget challenges:' said Dorothy
Benyas, Federation's chief financial
officer. "We expect to realize signifi-
cant savings!' Benyas said she had no
precise savings number and declined
to reveal the names of the staffers who
were offered buyouts.
"This has been a very difficult issue
for us and we've tried to handle it

very sensitively:' she said. The buyouts
affect long-time, dedicated employees
"and every department, both union
and non-union, executive and support
staff!"
She did not want to reveal names
because while some people were con-
sidering retirement, several were look-
ing for new positions, and two were still
considering the offer. The deadline was
Tuesday. Those who accept the buyouts
can continue working until May 31, the
end of Federation's fiscal year. Some
have elected to leave earlier.
The buyouts were funded by
Federation's pension plan, Benyas said.
The buyout offer includes enhanced
pension benefits, payments toward one
year of health insurance and job transi-
tion assistance.
Federation's 2008 goal for its Annual
Campaign is $34 million, plus $10
million for the Challenge Fund, which
matches contributions made by donors
above their pledge from last year.
Benyas said it will be a challenge to
meet those goals, given Michigan's
economy. At the same time, because
of the economic downturn, the needs
faced by Federation's local constituent
agencies are greater.
Asked if Federation is considering
other cuts, Benyas said none are con-
templated at this time. ❑

ZOA Recalls Shoah
The Zionist Organization of America-
Michigan Region, in cooperation
with the Holocaust Memorial Center
Zekelman Family Campus in
Farmington Hills, will present Henry
Gleisner and Chief Warrant Officer Eric
T. Howe speaking about "Confronting
Evil, Now and Then, Terrorism and
Nazism!"
The talk will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday,
Jan. 27, at the Holocaust Memorial
Center, 28123 Orchard Lake Road.
The event will honor the
U.N. International Holocaust
Rememberence Day and commemo-
rate the 60th anniversary of the libera-
tion of Auschwitz. After the program,
Gleisner will conduct a short tour of
the center. Refreshments will be served.
Gleisner, a Vienna, Austria, native,
is a Holocaust survivor who along
with his family escaped from the Lvov

Ghetto in Poland. He worked with false
documents as a Pole in the service
of a German construction firm as
interpreter across German-occupied
Europe. In 1944, he joined the Italian
underground sabotaging a German
airfield. In 1945, he served with the
American Military Government
in Austria and helped liberate the
Ebensee Concentration Camp. He is the
author of Defying the Fates, a chronicle
of his life story.
Howe, a Marine enlistee in 1987, has
served as a Marine security guard in
the American embassies in Panama,
Belgrade, Yugoslavia and Santiago,
Chile. Afterward, he was reassgined to
the 1st Marine Division Expeditionary
Unit and particiapted in operations in
Iraq, Kuwait and Somalia. He is also
the grandson of Gleisner.
For event information: Lisa Glazer,
(248) 282-0088.

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January 17 • 2008

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