VATHAr

Chad, 17, Sue a

Jay Kalisky of West

pose
in- front of theft. '

finished painting
on the mesh fence

surrounding

construction site.

damaged 1-lechtman'‘
11 Apartments.

Staff photo by Keri Guten Cohen

Keri Guten Cohen

Story Development Editor

A

boring white mesh fence
surrounding Hechtman II
Apartments, where construction
crews are gutting all 98 units destroyed by
an April 9 fire, was transformed into a col-
orful ribbon of hope, gratitude and cheer
by about 300 paint-streaked volunteers.
The idea for the project came up in
a meeting of the Jewish Apartments
& Services executive staff immedi-
ately following the harrowing fire on the
Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish

Community Campus in West Bloomfield.
The blaze displaced nearly 100 seniors and
destroyed most of their belongings.
"We had a choice of a cityscape on the
fence surrounding Hechtman II, but I sug-
gested a blank one because I envisioned a
big, bright painted community fence said
Pete Wurdock of JAS.
Now, his vision is a technicolor reality
stretching all around the building and
providing a beautiful distraction from the
charred building and the demolition work
going on inside.
On Sunday, artists came in many ages
and sizes. Big hands and little hands

Paint-spattered but happy, Margery Klausner of Southfield and her sons, Eli, 6,
Daniel, 4 and Nathan, 9, show off their art.

worked together as families, individu-
als, synagogue groups, 80 campers from
Tamarack Camps and members of local
organizations like National Council of
Jewish Women, B'nai B'rith Youth, Hillel of
Metro Detroit and JARC located their sec-
tions and worked their magic.
The white mesh fence became a blanket
of colors, drawings and words. Most preva-
lent were rainbows — symbols of hope
amid a storm. Young Israel of Oak Park cre-
ated a Tree of Life, complete with Hebrew
and English phrases and a bright rainbow.
One space had drawings of two kids, each
holding upright paintbrushes with rain-

bows flowing from the bristles. Others had
bold, bright flowers and suns or big smiles.
Many had messages of thanks to JAS staff
and local fire departments.
Sarah Spitzer, 17, of West Bloomfield
first mixed and handed out brushes and
paint in plastic cups before tackling her
own space. She drew the prophet Elijah
in his fiery chariot, the harbinger of the
Messiah. Neighbors next door with small
hands added their handprints to her piece.
"I volunteered to paint to lift people's
spirits and to show them that out of bad,
good things can come Spitzer said.

Color Their World on page C16

Professional artist Steven Gamburd of Oak Park created this Noah's ark.

July 3 • 2008 C15