At St. Leo's: YAD members Michael Carnow, Jason Brooks and Abby Reiss, all of Royal Oak; Rachel Keller of Bloomfield Hills; Jennifer Levine of Pleasant Ridge; Leah Bold
and Jared Goldman, both of Royal Oak; Hy Safran of Franklin; Shayna Levine of Huntington Woods; and Scott Mitnick of Royal Oak

Leah Bold of Royal Oak offers a hot lunch
at St. Leo's.

York City, said, "We were up in front
of the kitchen and got to chat with the
supervisor and workers a bit. It's inter-
esting to see the day-in, day-out life of
the soup kitchen. They do really impor-
tant work there. Volunteering one day is
very different. I felt we could be doing
this more often than once a year; it's a
springboard to do more volunteering?'

Light Unto Nations
Not far from the rescue mission, at St.
Leo's Church Soup Kitchen, 10 members
of Federation's Young Adult Division
(YAD) and alumni of Federation's Becker

Ronn Nadis of Farmington Hills enjoys the time spent volunteering
St. Leo's Church Soup Kitchen supervisor Joe
with his children, Emily and Rebecca, 22, and Ben, 18. His wife, Beth, Micallef with volunteer Abby Reiss of Royal Oak
a pediatrician, was on call and couldn't attend this year.

(2009) and All-Star (2010) Leadership
Missions to Israel volunteered together at
the suggestion of Hy Safran of Franklin.
He had seen publicity about Mitzvah
Month and thought working at St. Leo's
would be a good opportunity for mis-
sion participants to give back as a group.
"Federation provides structure to
highlight that Jews should be a light
unto the nations:' said Safran, a YAD
board member. "This day brings Jews
together to do a good deed — and not
only to help the Jewish community, but
also the larger community.
"The highlight for me was directly

interacting with guests of the soup
kitchen. I decided to go from table to
table. I told them we were all from the
Jewish community and tried to explain
why we were doing this. I was showing
them we weren't just checking off a box;
we wanted to be there and share stories,
to learn about their holidays, families
and traditions?'
Abby Reiss of Royal Oak, who par-
ticipated in the All-Star mission, said,
"I was astounded by all of the services
provided by St. Leo's, and I was proud to
be able to help in the soup kitchen for a
day. I only wish I could volunteer there

more often?'
For the second year, the JCRC offered
opportunities for Muslim volunteers to
work with Jewish volunteers. About 40
Muslims participated at various sites.
"Our community is dedicated to
building bridges with other faiths and
making a difference in the lives of oth-
ers through tikkun olam [repair of the
world]," said Freya Weberman, JCRC
board member and co-chair of Volunteer
Day with Micki Grossman. "Volunteer
Day, part of Federation's Mitzvah Month,
is a wonderful example of our commu-
nity in action fulfilling these goals." CI

December 30 • 2010

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