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A Respectable Ending
M
arabel Chanin, 88, was found dead of an appar-
ent heart attack in her home in Highland Park on
Dec. 26, 2008. She lay in the morgue of the Detroit
Medical Examiner as an unclaimed body for nearly five months
until a distant relative contacted Ira Kaufman Chapel in
Southfield and suggested Chanin might have a plot in Oakview
Cemetery in Royal Oak, where her parents are buried.
Chanin was the lone resident on her block of Robinwood; the
other homes had been looted and abandoned. She had contact-
ed Fox 2 News Problem Solvers (WJBK-TV) last August after
her windows were broken and was filmed saying, "I'm here
alone. Who would hear me if I screamed? Nobody."
However, she eventually refused help when it was offered,
saying it would be too difficult to move all her belongings.
The distant relative was correct, according to David Techner
of Ira Kaufman Chapel in Southfield. The funeral home had all
her information on file. A plot had been paid for, but no funds
had been allotted for a service or burial.
Hometown Giving
As Michigan consumers promote the
benefits of buying local and supporting
local businesses, a new charitable cause
seeks to teach donors about the value
of keeping donation dollars close to
home and to bring small, local charities
together for the greater good.
"Given the times we are facing, it is
imperative that we do everything pos-
sible to help the increasing number
of those in need," says Lynne Cohn
Schreiber, executive director of Oakland
County-based Hometown Giving.
The idea for Hometown Giving, a
consortium of Michigan-based charities
with no national umbrella-group ties,
is the brainchild of Farmington Hills
resident Sue Burstein-Kahn, director
of ALS of Michigan; Jim Hiller, CEO of
Oakland County-based Hiller's Markets;
and Schreiber, chief creative officer of
Southfield-based Your People LLC.
A maximum of 40 charities may
become members. Participating small
local charities pay annual dues and
receive dedicated monthly public rela-
tions campaigns, bimonthly instructive
networking sessions, donor outreach
efforts, regular revenue-building cam-
paigns and collaborative oversight to
link businesses with charitable support.
Says Burstein-Kahn: "Hometown
Giving is a great example of the power of
community being greater than the power
of any one individual group or person"
Every dollar given through Hometown
Kaufman Chapel, along with Oakview Cemetery, donated
their services, as did Rabbi Harold Loss and Cantorial Soloist
Neil Michaels of Temple Israel, who conducted the service.
Because Chanin's story had been aired on Fox 2 News and
then updated when her body was discovered, people sad-
dened by her plight showed up to pay their respects at the
graveside service. Most of them were not Jewish.
One man came with his violin and played "Amazing Grace."
People brought flowers. One person told Loss, Chanin was
"the most important person I never knew."
The story of this solitary Jewish woman touched many
hearts.
"It was beautiful;' Techner said. "There must have been
about 50 people, many with tears in their eyes. It was the
strangest funeral — not one person there knew the person
being buried."
Giving stays in Michigan since all mem-
bers are small, local charities with no
connections to national organizations.
"We've never seen times like these:'
says Jim Hiller, whose company's
Michigan Initiative includes an effort
to connect local businesses for greater
value to shoppers, business owners and
the community at-large. "More people
need our help every day — and if we give
donations that leave the state of Michigan,
we are only creating a deeper crater of
devastation for our own community."
Hiller is founder of the Hiller ALS
Center at Wayne State University in
Detroit and PFUND (the Program for
Understanding Neurological Disease)
at the University of Michigan. He is
president of the Jewish National Fund's
Michigan chapter.
Says Hiller: "Winston Churchill said,
We make a living by what we get, but
we make a life by what we give' A huge
part of making Michigan viable again
includes helping those who need it most.
Hometown Giving has the potential to
have a meaningful and profound impact
on every single one of us."
For information, see the Web site:
www.hometowngiving.org .
Male Mentors Needed
Adult mentors help troubled youths.
Men especially are needed to fill out
Oakland County's mentoring ranks.
"Mentors change and even save lives','
says Circuit Judge Edward Sosnick,
— Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor
chairman of the Oakland County
Mentoring Initiative.
Youths who have mentors, Sosnick
said, "are less likely than their peers to
start drinking or using illegal drugs,
tend to trust their parents more and
communicate better with them, have
better attendance in school and a great-
er chance of going on to higher educa-
tion within one year of graduating from
high school."
The first Encouraging Our Youth
breakfast, hosted by the Oakland County
Mentoring Initiative, took place May
19 in the Oakland County Executive
Office Building in Waterford. It brought
together local business, religious, politi-
cal and community leaders to look at
ways to promote and expand mentoring
opportunities for Oakland County youth
and to discuss different ways individuals
in the community may be able to sup-
port these efforts.
The Oakland County Mentoring
Initiative is comprised of all six Oakland
County mentoring organizations: Big
Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan
Detroit, Childhelp, Mentor Connection–
Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan
Detroit, Oak Park Business & Education
Alliance, Oakland County Youth
Assistance–Mentors Plus and Winning
Futures.
Prospective mentors should call West
Bloomfield-based Jewish Family Service:
(248) 592-2240.
— both notes by Robert Sklar, editor
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A8
May 28 n 2009
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