Angel and Noa admire

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Angels and Dreamers helps local girl fulfill her dream to help the homeless.

I

Jackie Headapohl

Managing Editor

N

oa BenEzra, a young girl of 7 who
will soon be starting the second
grade at Lone Pine Elementary
School in West Bloomfield, says when
she grows up she wants to have a job that
doesn't exist yet.
"I'm going to make a hotel for homeless
people where they can have food and shel-
ter — a home she says.
Her grandmother Faye Friedman is
friends with Rabbi Daniel Syme of Temple
Beth El, who this summer, with help from
8-year-old Noah Ostheimer of White Lake,
launched Angels and Dreamers, a new
foundation with the goal of helping Jewish
children ages 7-11 do the mitzvahs they
wish they could do if only they had the
resources.
Friedman told Noa about Angels and
Dreamers. Noa, who lives with parents
Carole and Shlome BenEzra and sister Ellie,
5, in West Bloomfield and attends Keter
Torah and Adat Shalom synagogues, wrote
Syme a letter right away, sharing her dream
to help the homeless.
Syme read the letter and set the wheels
in motion to make Noa's dream come true.
He turned to the nonprofit Humble Design,
who became the angels to help Noa realize
her dream.
Humble Design was formed in 2009 by
two Birmingham women, Ana Smith and

36 September 4 • 2014

A

Left: Noa BenEzra dreams of helping the homeless. Right: Angel, Akyla and Jayvon in their new (beautifully decorated) home

Treger Strasberg, to help families coming
out of homeless and abuse shelters with
the process of rebuilding their home lives.
Many of these families are victims of abuse
and have left behind all personal items
upon escaping and entering an emergency
shelter. Most have no beds, books, toys or
furniture to call their own. Humble Design
steps in with everything it takes to make a
house a home.
"It's so cool and heartwarming that young
kids like Noa want to help," said Carrie
Parmenter, lead designer and client rela-

tions manager at Humble Design. "The
children she's helping probably haven't had
a bed of their own in years. Even though
children get toys along with furniture and
beds, it's the beds they're most excited
about. These families have gone through
so much together and worked hard to get
in a home. They care about the stuff that is
important to family:'
Noa and her grandmother began to plan
what they wanted to do for the children,
Jayvon, 6, and Akyla, 5, who will be living
in the home being decorated by Humble

Design. "Having Noa be able to have a con-
crete experience of the joy of giving is price-
less:' Friedman said. "Her secular school
and religious school classes have always
`given' to organizations throughout the year,
but this was a chance for her to help real
people — hands-on!"
Noa and her grandma went shopping.
"My grandma told me what Akyla was like.
She wasn't a girly-girl. I'm not either. She
likes reading and music and the color blue

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