Editor's Letter

Loans Of Mercy

I is caseload is daunting: Hebrew Free Loan is the last resort
and first lifeline for many Jewish Detroiters who are sud-
denly suffering and have no other source of relief.
HFL is a pillar of Jewish Detroit, but not one of our better-
known communal services. It behooves us as a community to
get to know this precious resource, based in the Max M. Fisher
Federation Building in Bloomfield Township.
Hebrew Free Loan strives to help
vulnerable, forlorn or desperate Jews
get back on track and regain their
dignity. The volunteer board members,
compassionate angels all, dispense aid
discreetly and with compassion after
verifying need. Serving as a volunteer
isn't easy: You work long and hard
— and are spent emotionally. But you
find humbling fruits of self-satisfac-
tion through a lending process that
boosts the self-esteem of borrowers
because it allows them to pay the loans
back. There's no charity involved. A 98-percent repayment rate,
thanks to flexible terms, confirms the respect that borrowers
show toward this service of good will.
Consider:
• Client interviews are up 30 percent while money loaned is
up 40 percent;
• 66 percent of clients now require further aid from other
service agencies;
• 46 percent of clients now make smaller payments, reducing
loan payment receipts to 2006 levels.
The net effect: In the last six months, HFL has loaned
an average of 33 percent more than it has gotten back each
month. Further, the average loan amount per borrower is down
mainly because there are fewer financially stable co-signers.

Loans also are popular among New Americans seeking
modest living quarters and job skills.
HFL also manages the Sarah and Harold Gottlieb Jewish
Educational Loan Service college loan program ($2.5 million
in loans).

Coming To Grips
Making loans is not simply a process driven by guidelines,
qualifiers and verifications. Says Executive Director Mary
Keane in the spring-summer issue of HFL's newsletter The
Promise: "It is a hopeful effort to get one's intellect, emotions
and heart around the great issues facing each and every one of
our borrowers — and make a loan that will change their life
for the better."
She adds, "Try to imagine yourself sitting in a borrower's
position, wondering what it must be like to face the reality of
not being able to provide basic necessities for you and your
family. We can only have great compassion and empathy for
these individuals who are living day to day, not knowing what
will happen next."
There's a worldwide recession — and Michiganians are
likely to be among the last to experience a turnaround. We con-
tinue to be pelted. Says Keane: "We are seeing more profession-
als seeking loans, including engineers, doctors and dentists
and older single women, many in the age range of 60-80, who
have lost investment income and are now living on severely
limited fixed incomes." The result: folks who are underinsured
or uninsured — or balancing one bill against another to pro-
tect their credit rating, which is so important to survival.

By The Numbers
The Jewish community funds HFL. The agency's interest-free
loan portfolio is $1.6 million for 1,100 clients — the highest
ever over 113 years. The growth in dollars loaned over the last
five years is a whopping 165 percent.
Array Of Needs
HFL visitors arriving hungry, without shelter, short on
Borrowers come from across the economic spectrum, and
skills or especially troubled may get a loan; when appropriate,
they can be hesitant or scared. HFL's best use is as a bridge to
they are referred to other Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
securing a stable new job so that a brighter life
Detroit agencies under the Jewish Assistance
can return and repayment can begin.
Project umbrella. Our communal agencies
Michigan's depressed economy, punctu-
stand together in partnership to serve clients
ated by the auto industry crisis, has pushed
efficiently and effectively. Each client's need is
once middle-class Jews into financial duress.
assessed by ensuring the coordination of add-
Michigan's jobless rate now tops 12 percent.
on services.
The professional, service and retail sectors of
Federation's Annual Campaign allots 34
our economy alike are affected. Blue-collar
percent of HFL's $401,000 operating budget;
workers aren't the only ones knocking on the
but communal needs are rising relentlessly.
HFL door. Laid-off executives are there also,
Fundraising to sustain the demand for new
wanting loans to pursue retraining.
loans is a white-hot concern. The number of
Loan seekers can be in all sorts of binds, be
donors is down, as is the amount that some
they the throes of divorce, eviction, foreclosure,
donors can give. Investment income is down
illness, medical or dental problems, car repairs,
20 percent; that means the accelerated use of
alcoholism, spouse abuse, tax penalties, a past-
reserved and invested funds will continue.
Mary Keane, H ebrew Free
due car loan or mortgage payment, a leaking
Since 2004, HFL's Friends group has gener-
Loan's executi ye director
roof, infestation, a broken furnace or a funeral
ated an average of $144,500 a year in gifts
expense. Loans have been extended to pay
from 734 donors — bolstering operations.
for adoptions, in-vitro fertilization and medical school fees.
The loan capital campaign is within $383,000 of its $2.5
Parolees seeking a new life also have passed muster for loans.
million goal.
Not all borrowers face emergencies at home. The most famous
recipient of some startup capital through HFL is Spencer
Staying Focused
Partrich, who paid for law school with a loan. The Farmington
I'm glad to hear that the Hebrew Free Loan board is strategi-
Hills attorney now is a benefactor of both HFL and Wayne State
cally reviewing agency operations to balance cash needs for
University in Detroit.
making loans and meeting operations for the next two years.

roaring success!

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will impa

undreds of

children with

disabilities and

their families.

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HOUR DETROIT

BIST0,11EIV

MGM GRAND DETROIT

A portion of the proceeds from this
celebrity-studded event will benefit JARC

Loans of Mercy on page A6

June 18 2009

A5

