frontlines

Olympic Bound

Marlene Temkin
JN Intern

T

hough going to the Olympics is a dream many
people have, it is rare for that dream to become a
reality. But Elena Hirsch, 9, of West Bloomfield won
a contest that is sending her 3,700 miles across the globe to
watch the 30th Olympic Games in London and participate
in McDonald's Global Champions of Play program with the
other finalists.
Last Friday at the 14 Mile and Orchard Lake McDonald's,
Elena found out the exciting news while surrounded by fam-
ily and friends. The 10 winners of McDonald's Happy Meal
Chefs contest will travel to London in July with a parent to
watch some of the Olympic events and go sightseeing.
Elena, who submitted a video detailing the "contests" her
family stages to see who can make the most delicious meal
at dinner, was very excited she won. "I never actually thought
I'd get to go to the Olympics. It's like a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity; most people don't ever get to go. It's so amaz-
ing," she said.
Sarah Hirsch found out the exciting news about a month
ago but couldn't tell her daughter. "It's been really hard not to
tell her; I'm glad it's in the open now;' Sarah said. "We always
watch the Olympics on TV, and I can't imagine how incred-
ible it's going to be to see them in person."
The winners will attend the swimming and volleyball
events — great news for Elena, whose favorite Olympic
athlete is Michael Phelps. "I love watching him swim; he's so
good. Plus it's his last year competing," she said.
Ron Moten, the owner/operator of the Farmington
Hills McDonald's, said he was "thrilled that one of West
Bloomfield's own was chosen as a finalist in the Happy Meal
Chefs contest. We are looking forward to following Elena's
journey at the London 2012 Olympic Games."

.114 CONTENTS

June 21-27, 2012

Sabina and Yevgeniy

Elena and Sarah Hirsch with Ron Moten, owner of
McDonald's at 14 Mile and Orchard Lake Road

The contest, which asked participants to submit a short
video showing how they make family mealtime fun while
also making wholesome choices, was launched as part of
McDonald's new Happy Meal campaign, which aims to make
nutrition fun for kids. A panel of experts that included five-
time Olympic swimmer Dara Torres judged the thousands of
entries based in part on creativity, originality and the use of
the USDAs My Plate guidelines.
Torres said, "After watching Elena's video entry, I was very
impressed by how her whole family makes cooking nutri-
tious meals fun."
At the event on June 15, Elena, who attends Hebrew school
at Adat Shalom Synagogue, received an autographed picture
of Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, and she and her mom
received McDonald's Happy Meal Chef T-shirts.
The entire Hirsch family will be traveling to London
together; Elena and her mother, Sarah, won the tickets
through the contest, but Elena's father, Kevin, and younger
brother, Jacob, 7, will be going as well. E

theJEWISHNEWS o r

1-7 Tammuz 5772 I Vol. CXLI, No. 20

knew
about Hebrew Free Loan because
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agency years ago. But Sabina didn't
really consider all the things HFL
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"Everything was going along fine,
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Shabbat: Friday, June 29, 8:56 p.m.
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Times are according to the Yeshiva Beth
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