Special Report

MITZVAH MONTH / ON THE COVER

Serving lunch at the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries: Twin sisters Rebecca and Emily Nadis, 22, of Farmington Hills; Rachel, 16, and her mom, Susan Sabbath of

Huntington Woods; and Ben Nadis, 18, of Farmington Hills

Holiday Giving

Jewish volunteers offer sustenance and cheer to those in need.

Keri Guten Cohen

Story Development Editor

0

n Christmas Eve afternoon,
Ronn Nadis of Farmington Hills
sat for a chat with Bernard at
the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries in
Detroit. They found they both grew up
in the same part of northwest Detroit.
Though down on his luck after los-
ing both his job and his home, Bernard
found transitional living arrangements
at the rescue mission.
"He volunteered alongside us," Nadis
said. "He wanted to give back, too."

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December 30 • 2010

Nadis and his three children were
among nearly 200 local Jewish vol-
unteers participating in Volunteer
Day sponsored by the Bloomfield
Township-based Jewish Community
Relations Council (JCRC) as part of
Mitzvah Month, an effort by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit to
log 1,800 volunteer hours in December.
Traditionally, the JCRC holds Mitzvah
Day on Dec. 25, drawing more than
1,000 Jewish volunteers to provide
holiday relief to those assisting Metro
Detroit's needy. Because Christmas Day
fell on Shabbat this year, Volunteer Day

was held Dec. 24 and other opportu-
nities were made available to Jewish
volunteers throughout the month. As of
Monday, 1,720 volunteer hours had been
logged.
The Nadis family was part of a team
of 10 Jewish volunteers at Detroit Rescue
Mission Ministries who did such tasks as
prepare and serve lunch, restock the pan-
try and visit with those at the mission.
"Participating in this community
effort has become an annual ritual for
me for about 10 years, and I always do it
with one or more of my children:' said
Nadis, who volunteered with Ben, 18,

and twin daughters Rebecca and Emily,
22. "It gives us a chance to give back
to the greater community — beyond
the Jewish community — but also an
opportunity to have family time."
Emily, a recent University of Michigan
graduate who works in Ann Arbor,
agrees: "I do it for two reasons. It's
always wonderful to be able to do a
mitzvah on someone else's holiday; and,
the last four years, going in the car with
my dad has given us a chance to catch
up.
Rebecca, who is in a yearlong fellow-
ship program at Yeshivat Hadar in New