Metro
The start of
the walk
Walking With Purpose
Friendship Circle's annual fundraiser just keeps growing.
Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor
Getting some hot dogs after their walk are Jaynie Karp and Olivia
Stillman, both from Birmingham.
sea of white moved as a major
wave over the landscape of the
Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield Sunday as nearly 4,500
people participated in the fourth annual
Walk4Friendship.
Even dogs were decked out in the white
T-shirts sporting the logo of Friendship
Circle's major fundraiser, which provides
about one-third of the organization's
$1.2 million budget. This year's goal is
$400,000; with donations still coming in,
the tally at press time stands at $387,536.
Rabbi Levi Shemtov started Friendship
Circle in 1994 to help Jewish addicts and
alcoholics; his wife, Bassie, soon added
the program to help children with spe-
cial needs and their families. Now the
Meer Family Friendship Campus is home
to Friendship House and the Ferber
Kaufman LifeTown.
Even the weather — sunny, but not too
hot — cooperated for the event. It was so
nice that Sherri Litman of West Bloomfield
and her son, Eric, 13, decided to do the 5K
walk rather than the one-mile family walk.
"We are here to supports friends:' Sherri
said.
When walkers made it to the nearby
Friendship Circle campus, they were
greeted with ice-cold water, popcorn and
cotton candy, fruit and a lunch of hot dogs,
potato knishes, corn and cookies — all
served by volunteers.
Kids enjoyed a petting zoo, climb-
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