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TAKES AREA

EXPERTS

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MUFFLERS and MORE is now Kenny's Lakes Area Auto Experts!

We've evolved: more training, more services, everything you need!
We're changing our name to reflect the direction we've been moving in for years.
The name is changing, but our hearts and commitment are the same.

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LAKES AREA
AUTO EXPERTS

Kenny "the Car Guy" Walters, owns
the award-winning auto shop
and is a member of Temple Israel

Auto
Value

(248) 8884200
lakesareeauto corn

Lakes Area Auto Experts

NEW NAME
SAME GREAT
CREW

at 490 N. Pontiac Trail
in Walled Lake

Nancy Waldman with some of the Kenbrook Elementary School children in
her knitting club

248.668.1200
www.lakesareaauto.conn

een Monthly on >
WXYZ Channel 7
-

For years, Lakes Area
Auto Experts has
provided neighbors with '
HONEST, DEPENDABLE,
QUALITY information,
repair and service! They I
live here and it shows!

Have Yarn, Will Knit

Email Kenny the Car Guy at
kenny@lakesareaauto.com

SERVICE DISCOUNT

(labor only)

$10 OFF $50
$20 OFF sioo
$30 OFF $250 or more

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1.1

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30095 Northwestern Hwy.
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
(248) 865-1300
www.bankofmi.com

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.81150

30 April 30 • 2015

JIB

Grandmother started a knitting club
at her grandson's elementary school.

I

Stacy Gittleman
Contributing Writer

H

er name is Nancy Waldman,
but many of the elementary
school students, teachers and
administrators at Kenbrook Elementary
School in Farmington Hills who adore
her simply call her by her nickname
"Moppi."
The school recently honored Waldman,
a retired Detroit-area third-grade teacher,
for her many hours of volunteering with
its "Senior Extraordinaire" award at
the school's 19th Annual Senior Adult
Breakfast.
Waldman works with first-grade Math
Pentathlon students, volunteers in her
grandson's second-grade classroom and
works in the office providing administra-
tive support.
She is best known at the school for
starting up a knitting club. The club
has sparked a love for the craft as well
as a desire to give to others. Since she
started her knitting hobby 14 years ago,
Waldman knit hundreds, if not thou-
sands, of scarves. She not only gives
them to family and friends, but to senior
citizens in nursing homes and homeless
in shelters or staying in temporary hospi-
tality programs at area temples and syna-
gogues. Basically, Waldman provides a
scarf for just about anyone who may need
to fight off the chill of Michigan winters.
"I've watched the sanitation workers
collect garbage and the postal workers
making their rounds in my neighbor-
hood, and I've knit scarves for them, too:'
Waldman said.
When a child joins Waldman's knitting
club, she tells them they will learn to knit
two scarves: one to keep and one to give
away to a relative, friend or someone in
need. Waldman supplies the yarn that she
purchases herself. Over the three years
since the club's existence, that adds up to

around $2,000 worth of yarn, according
to Waldman.
Through weekly meetings that occur
during lunch recess, Waldman witnessed
young friendships form, fine motor skills
improve and a sense of generosity and
giving blossom. Waldman stressed that
knitting is not just for girls.
"You would not believe how long the
boys stick with their knitting projects:'
Waldman said. "Some made scarves for
their entire hockey team:'
Many of the scarves the children knit
are dropped off at the office of Principal
Arnie Rubin, who is a volunteer at many
senior centers and homeless shelters.
"Whenever I tell Barbara of my plans
to go on a volunteer visit, she soon shows
up with a box of scarves knit by her or
the children:' Rubin said. "She is always
there to help in any way she can and
has served as a great role model for our
students because she instills the value of
giving:'
The Detroit native also ushers at the
Detroit Opera House, the Max Fisher
Theater and, for years, has been a staple
election day volunteer in Farmington
Hills. At 68, she volunteers because of a
love of being active in the community.
Waldman stressed the importance of
parents and grandparents volunteering
in elementary schools as much as their
schedules will allow, especially in the ear-
liest grades. Gone are the days of half-day
kindergartens staffed by a teacher and a
full-time aide that she recalls when she
taught in the 1970s.
"Now, the class sizes are bigger, the day
is longer and there is no one helping that
teacher; Waldman said. "Teachers can
use all the help they can get:'
Though spring is finally here,
Waldman knits all year long. In fact, she
already has 200 scarves and counting
"ready to go" for next winter.

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