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Maccabi from page All
Housing And Volunteer Orientation Times
Every host family and volunteer is required to attend one orientation session
before the start of the Games. (If you are both a host and a volunteer, you must
attend one of each orientation). Sessions are 45 minutes each. If you have not
already signed up to be a volunteer or host, you may do so at any of the orienta-
tion sessions.
D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building, West Bloomfield. Jimmy Prentis Morris Building, Oak
Park
40
Getting Games Spirit
Housing teens "involves all the
excitement of the Games;' says
Alan Jay Kaufman of Bloomfield
Hills. Seeing those same athletes
Orientation Day
Date
Time
Location
compete at events makes it all the
Volunteers
Sunday
June 22
9 a.m.
JPM
more fun; "you really get into the
Host families
Sunday
event," he says.
June 22
9:45 a.m.
JPM
It also means recalling great
Volunteers
Wednesday
June 25
7 p.m.
Kahn
experiences
of your own. As a boy,
Host families
Wednesday
June 25
7:45
Kahn
Kaufman
loved
playing basketball
Volunteers
Sunday
July 13
7 p.m.
JPM
and
attended
out-of-town
sport-
Host families
Sunday
July 13
7:45 p.m.
JPM
ing
events
where
he
was
hosted
Volunteers
Thursday
July 17
7 p.m.
Kahn
by families; and it was always an
Host families
Thursday
July 17
7:45 p.m.
Kahn
exceptional experience, he says.
Volunteers
Tuesday
July 22
10 a.m.
Kahn
"You go to the Games and you
Host families
Tuesday
July 22
10:45 a.m.
Kahn
cheer the kids on and 24 hours
Volunteers
Sunday
July 27
9 a.m.
Kahn
before you didn't even know
Host families
Sunday
July 27
9:45 a.m.
Kahn
them': adds Cheryl Kirsch who,
with Sandi Matz, serves as co-
chair of the 2008 JCC Maccabi
Please RSVP for your session(s) to maccabi@jccdet.org or call (248) 432-5500.
Games Housing Committee.
"When you see them at the open-
secrets, who loves you no matter what, with whom you are for-
ing ceremony, it makes your heart skip a beat"
ever bound.
This year will be especially memorable for Kirsch. "I'm
Laura attended Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit, lived
Hungarian:' she says, noting that for the first time in history, the
in West Bloomfield, had a comfortable, familiar group of friends. 2008 Games will include a contingent from Hungary. Other than
Suddenly, in tumbled a group of teens from such different
Kirsch's grandmother, virtually every one of her ancestors was
backgrounds, and yet "we realized we had so much in common:' murdered by the Nazis.
After Maccabi, Laura and some of the athletes began e-mailing
So when her friend Sandi asked Cheryl to serve on the hous-
and talking on the phone, often visiting each other. Today, both
ing committee, how could she say no?
Laura and Rachel live in New York, and Roy will return to the
Officially known as the Be a Sport, House an Athlete
city next year.
Committee, the group finds thousands of athletes places to stay.
f
C hronoarcaph .nRisteel.
On Your Mark,
Get Set ... Volunteer!
"Power Tool for the
Boardroom"
Most people think "sports" when they hear "Maccabi,"
but Donna Sklar says that's not the point. Maccabi is,
instead, a gathering of thousands of teens "in a totally
Jewish experience. This is not a program about sports.
The purpose is to create strength through unity — to
identify as Jews."
Sklar of Farmington Hills is chairman of the 2008 JCC
Maccabi Games Volunteer Committee.
Maccabi and vounteering are a way of life for the Sklar
women. "My mother was 90, and plenty of groups were
still asking her to volunteer," Sklar says. Daughter Karen
Gordon is director of the 2008 Games.
So perhaps you want to support the Games but can't
house athletes? Don't worry. Sklar has a job for you.
Volunteers can be as young as 10 and as old as 135.
Whatever your interests, skills, capabilities, "We have
something for everyone," Sklar says. Some possibilities:
•Input computer data
•Register athletes
•File
•Make phone calls
•Help with the Day of Caring and Sharing, which brings
athletes to volunteer at 11 different venues, including
scfiViiiorr
JEWELLERS / GEMOLOGISTS
across Coolidge from the Somerset Collection
3001 West Big Beaver, Suite 112
Troy, Michigan 48084
248.649.1122 / 800.SCHUBOT
schubot.com
MEMBER
AMERICAN
GEM
SOCIETY'
1399930
Al2
June 12 • 2008
Who would have thought, she
says, that in just a matter of days
she would meet friends who
would "shape my life?"
N
aid for Darfur, Gleaners Community Food Bank, work-
ing with children with special needs or with seniors,
making care packages for Israeli soldiers
• Supervise "hang time" at the JCC, which gives ath-
letes a chance to relax and be with friends
• Be a scorekeeper or a linesman during the athletic
competitions
•Serve food
• Prepare hospitality bags
• Welcome athletes as they arrive at the airport
• Physicians and nurses are needed at every event
• Be "eyes and ears" to make sure everything moves
according to plan
• Direct traffic at sporting events
• Be certain there's plenty of water at all the
competitions
• Help post scores online
"We've got 5,109 shifts for volunteers," Sklar says.
How to make a match? "We'll talk," Sklar says. "By the
time we've come to choosing your job, we're already old
friends."
Note: All volunteers must register. For information on
volunteering or to register, go to www.2008detroit.org .
Applications also are at the JCC in Oak Park and West
Bloomfield, or contact the Maccabi office, (248) 432-
5500 or maccabi@jccdet.org.