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Icial Report
EYOND THE BLAZE
Out Of The Ashes
Community support and individual perseverance trump the evils of fire.
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Members of Fleischman Residence share Shabbat dinner with resi-
dents of Hechtman I, who returned to their apartments Friday.
Amanda Goodman, 12, Natalie Bloom, 13, Hannah Kohn,
12, and Brittani Friedland, 12, all of West Bloomfield with
a thank-you basket for fire and police personnel.
Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor
E
ve Kopitz's life changed dramatically on April 9.
"I was waiting until about 10:30 that morning
to go to a jewelry-making class:' she recalled.
"The TV started messing up and I thought, 'Heck, I'm
going to go downstairs:
I opened the door and thought I was dead.
"There was so much smoke; I couldn't breathe. As soon
as it hit me, my eyes started tearing. Two guys grabbed
me under the arm and walked me to [the Norma Jean and
Edward] Meer [Jewish Apartments], where everybody was
wonderful."
Kopitz, a cheery woman who will be 95 in June, lived
in one of four apartments at the Samuel and Lillian
Hechtman II Jewish Apartments in West Bloomfield
totally destroyed by a five-hour fire little more than a week
ago. Residents have returned to apartments in adjoining
Hechtman I; but Hechtman II residents will have to wait
from six months to one year while the building is rebuilt.
Some will stay in 29 studio apartments at the Anna &
Meyer Prentis Jewish Apartments in Oak Park.
When she moved in about a year ago, the one-bed-
room apartment in this independent living complex on
the Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community
Campus was "plenty for a little old lady"
She filled that apartment with mementoes from a good
life. Now they are gone.
"I walked out with nothing, except what I was wearing:'
she said. "I lost all my children's pictures, all the pictures
of my parents — all the things I had gathered for years,
everything I possessed. I was lucky I had clothes on; many
Al2
April 17 • 2008
Eve Kopitz's apartment in Hechtman II was
one of four totally destroyed by the fire.
Hillel Day School sixth-graders Lisa Waldman and Madeleine Gonte,
both of Bloomfield Hills, and Alex Sherman of Birmingham with teach-
er Sue Shlom, collected money for victims of the Hechtman fire.
only had on housecoats.
"This is the first upsetting situation like this in my life,
and it's hard to accept it. It makes for sadness. Whatever
happens will happen:'
Though Kopitz went home with her son Mark and
daughter-in-law Gilda, who live in West Bloomfield, she
misses her independence and her friends.
"Thank goodness I have family who are wonderful, but
you live in a community with people your age and then
you're out in the dark:' said Kopitz, who has talked to one
neighbor but isn't sure how to locate other friends stay-
ing with family "What you feel is a loss for all the dearest
things you have plus your independence'
Kopitz has insurance on the contents of her apartment
and plans to be resettled at Prentis until she can move
back to Hechtman II.
Social workers from Jewish Apartments & Services,
with help from professionals from Jewish Home & Aging
Services and Jewish Family Service, continue to monitor
residents, first meeting immediate needs and then shifting
to longer-term needs.
JAS is currently allowing family members access to a
relative's apartment when it is safe enough to enter and
retrieve small personal items. The process for large-item
recovery will begin soon and residents, and their families
will be contacted through a letter going out this week from
JAS. Insurance adjusters will be scheduled to visit the
apartments they are insuring during the completion of the
first pass for families. They will be scheduled by appoint-
ment with JAS staff.
Community Steps Up
Members of the Jewish community responded rapidly
and with such generosity that basic essentials needed for
the 198 residents were fulfilled within the first day or two
following the fire. Furnishings needed for the 29 studio
apartments in Oak Park appeared quickly, and the needs
were met as well.
Now the appreciative JAS staff is asking those who still
want to help to make monetary donations only. The dona-
tions will help meet the immediate needs of residents and
support recovery efforts, which will be coordinated by
JAS with help from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan