community

Dinner And
Decorating

Coat Drive

Tapper's 20th annual appeal kicks off.

Families spruce up Temple Israel's
sukkah for the joyous festival.

T

emple Israel families enjoyed an evening together as they decorated the
synagogue's sukkah on Oct. 11.
A free pizza dinner was served to keep up everyone's strength as they
hung decorations and enjoyed each other's company.
The event was sponsored by Temple Israel's Early Childhood Center. Li

Ava and Ben

Manson of West

Bloomfield helped

hang decorations.

F

or the 20th consecutive year,
Tapper's Diamonds & Fine
Jewelry will collect and dis-
tribute hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of winter coats and other cold-weather
gear to Michigan residents in need.
Last year, the family-owned jewelry
store collected 2,000 coats and other
winter clothing items.
From now through Nov. 18, the com-
munity can donate gently used, clean
coats and new blankets, hats, scarves
and gloves, or cash donations in any
amount to any Tapper's Diamonds &
Fine Jewelry location or at any Tapper's
Gold Exchange.
Cash donations of $20 or more are
being encouraged to mark the 20th
year of the coat drive. These donations
will be used to purchase coats at a
discounted bulk rate. Checks also are
accepted and should be made payable
to "Tapper's Coat Drive."
"We can never know the full impact we
can make on a child now able to walk to
and from school without the bitter wind
blowing through his or her clothing',' says
Howard Tapper, owner and president of
Tapper's."It's important to realize that
even a small donation can really change
someone else's reality:'
Collected coats are distributed to
agencies, schools and individuals, and

the need has grown each year. Tapper's
often receives calls from teachers or
principals who have identified a need
within their schools and have heard
about the coat drive. Coats are distrib-
uted to many organizations, including
Orchards Children's Services, Detroit
Public Schools, Baldwin Church Center,
Grace Centers for Hope, Kids Kicking
Cancer and Mercy Primary Care
Center.
Tapper's appreciates its coat drive
partners, Morgan Stanley Smith
Barney (Troy, Birmingham and
Bloomfield Hills offices) for a com-
mitment to raise funds to purchase
500 new coats; WDIV and the Detroit
Jewish News for helping to publicize
the drive; and local schools that collect
coats on behalf of Tapper's: Hillel Day
School, Akiva Hebrew Day School and
the Frankel Jewish Academy.
Find Tapper's Diamonds & Fine
Jewelry at Orchard Mall, West
Bloomfield; Twelve Oaks Mall, Novi;
and Somerset Collection, Troy. Gold
Exchange locations are at Twelve Oaks
Mall, Fairlane Town Center, Oakland
Mall, Partridge Creek, Great Lakes
Crossing, Laurel Park Place, Lakeside
Mall, Birchwood Mall, Bay City Mall and
West Grange Pharmacy in Trenton. Li

Grandparents

Don and Phyllis

Domestic Abuse

Rochen and grand-

children Noah,

Israeli actress' play to educate women, teens.

Emily and Jessica

T

Tracht, all of

West Bloomfield,

enjoy an evening

together.

Ryan, Blake,

Jennifer and

Max Barish of

Farmington Hills

enjoyed making

decorations.

o mark Domestic Violence
Awareness Month, the
National Council of Jewish
Women, Greater Detroit Section
(NCJW/GDS) and Temple Israel
Sisterhood will host an evening
exploring the topic on Thursday,
Oct. 27, at Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield.
The event begins at 7 p.m. with
a performance of Flowers Aren't
Enough, a one-
woman theatri-
cal performance
by renowned
Israeli actress
Naomi Ackerman.
Admission is $10
and all proceeds
will benefit NCJW/
Naomi
GDS's domestic
Ackerman
abuse awareness
programs.
The performance will be followed
by a discussion with Ackerman about
various aspects of domestic abuse.

1 '

"We encourage all to attend Flowers
Aren't Enough as domestic abuse is
still a topic that not many people
talk about or want to recognize said
Susan Marwil, event co-chair. "Our
organization is grateful that Naomi
Ackerman will be in Metropolitan
Detroit to speak about abuse across
the generations, local resources and
economic security as it pertains to
financial safety, power and control."
The night before the performance
and discussion, Wednesday, Oct. 26,
Ackerman will present a teen work-
shop on domestic violence awareness
at 7 p.m. at the Teen Center at the
Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield. The workshop, which will
be co-hosted with BBYO, will focus
on maintaining healthy relationships
and making wise dating choices. For
more information, email Lindsey at
lrosenberg@bbyo.org .
To attend either event, call NCJW/
GDS at (248) 355-3300 ext. 0 or visit
www.ncjwgds.org.

October 20 2011

57

