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Grow! Grow!
Emanu-El's intergenerational garden program joins seniors and youth.
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n Sunday, April 22, crowds gathered to cel-
ebrate Earth Day and dedicate the Jewish
Community Garden in Oak Park at the Temple
Emanu-El garden beds. Followed by an intergenerational
garden program for Jewish Senior Life residents and
Temple Emanu-El students, the dedication was inspir-
ing, bringing new life to a long-held Jewish neighbor-
hood. The activities included composting and creating
garden signage.
As she welcomed participants, Patti Tauber, Garden
Planning Committee leader and a social worker at Teitel
Apartments, said, "This garden fosters a sense of com-
munity and interaction between seniors and kids with
easy accessibility for the disabled. I hope this garden
grows and grows."
Two truckloads of compost were delivered and
donated by the Southeastern Michigan Water Authority
in Royal Oak.
Oak Park Mayor Marion McClellan said, "This is the
future. This is where we need to be: seniors and kids
working together." E
Patti Tauber, Garden Planning Committee
leader, welcomes participants.
Special Seder
While readying beds for vegetable
planting, Lily Franklin said, "I love
doing this!"
Groups sponsor seder that promotes action regarding hunger.
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n Sunday, April 22, the Jewish
Community Relations Council of
Metropolitan Detroit partnered
with Yad Ezra, MAZON, the Jewish Council
for Public Affairs and the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit to take action on
the issue of hunger by hosting an interfaith
Hunger Seder.
The Hunger Seder was aimed at educating
the Jewish and Chaldean communities and
their partners about the prevalence of hunger
and malnutrition in the United States.
The goal was to encourage grassroots
advocacy to restore funding from the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) that helped pay for the 2010 Child
Nutrition Reauthorization, protect funding
for SNAP in the Farm Bill (and other legisla-
tion), and to fully fund the Women, Infants
and Children (WIC) program.
Hunger Seder participants included U.S.
Reps. John Conyers Jr., Hansen Clarke and
Gary Peters, State Rep. Lisa Brown, Jewish
teens volunteering with J-Serve, several teens
and adults from the Chaldean community,
and a number of JCRC and Yad Ezra board
members.
JCRC previously co-sponsored a Hunger
Seder at Oakland University organized by
JCRC's Hunger Seder intern and Oakland
University student Shayna Hodge.
J-Serve teen volunteers Tyler Pleasant, Adam
Hunger Seder participants with U.S. Reps. Hansen Clarke and
Boorstein and Ian Zaback pack apples at Yad Ezra.
Gary Peters, and State Rep. Lisa Brown
U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke, Yad Ezra president
Richard Simtob of West Bloomfield, Rabbi
Joseph Krakoff of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek, Jewish Community Relations Council
president Sharon Lipton of Waterford, U.S. Rep.
Gary Peters, State Rep. Lisa Brown and U.S.
Rep. John Conyers Jr.
May 3 • 2012
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