Specia
Robin Schwartz
Special to the Jewish News
With state budget
cuts looming, the
Jewish community
mobilizes to help
those in need.
1
n the midst of our recent bitter cold
snap, on a day when the high tem-
perature struggled to reach 14 degrees
(with subzero wind chills), a group of
about 300 people huddled together in the
warm confines of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek in Southfield to focus on those who
don't have the luxury of heat or shelter
from the harsh winter conditions.
A panel of experts — including Ismael
Ahmed, former director of the Michigan
Department of Human Services; Perry
Ohren, chief program officer for Jewish
Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit;
Jane Marshall, executive director of the
Food Bank Council of Michigan; Jessie
Rossman, an attorney with the American
Civil Liberties Union; and former state
senator Gilda Jacobs of Huntington
Woods — delivered a State of the State on
poverty in Michigan. Brian Dickerson, a
columnist with the Detroit Free Press, also
moderated a discussion during the Jan.
23 community forum called "Do Not Turn
Away."
"If you're like me, you don't like to think
about poverty very much because it gets
in the way of enjoying so much else that
we do',' Dickerson said. "I didn't like last
night as I headed to dinner at a nice res-
taurant with my wife and some friends,
passing the homeless man on the corner
looking for something to eat. But you can't
live in this community and shut your eyes
to it for very long."
The event, held free of charge, was
co-sponsored by the Jewish Community
Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit,
the Detroit Jewish News and Congregation
Shaarey Zedek. Many participants brought
canned goods and books to donate. And
as you might imagine, in the wake of our
state's decade-long economic slump, the
news was grim.
"The number of people receiving some
kind of assistance in Michigan was 3 mil-
lion last year, close to one-third of the
population of our state,' Ismael Ahmed
explained. "The image of who receives
aid, who is suffering from poverty, really
has changed from an inner-city focus to
your next door neighbor, your family, your
friends and maybe, down the line, you."
By The Count
The statistics alone are staggering and the
numbers continue to grow. In the Jewish
community, 5,000 households (about 17
percent) were counted as low-income
(earning less than $25,000 per year) dur-
ing the Federation-initiated 2005 Detroit
Poverty Crisis on page 14
February 24 2011
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