metro
Activist Of The Year
(And Forever)
Cred it: John Harw ic k
A conversation with Marcy Feldman.
Vivian Henoch
Special to the Jewish News
I
n downtown Birmingham, four doors
south of the Birmingham Theatre, it's
easy to miss the address 235 — the
jewel box of a store, Heartwear Designs.
Drop in for a visit and you'll find pro-
prietors Marcy and Michael Feldman "at
home" with their standard offer of hos-
pitality: "Can we make you a cup of tea,
would you like some cookies, can we clean
your rings while you're here?" If it feels
like you've just entered the Feldman's liv-
ing room, that's by design in the sunlit and
elegantly appointed space where Marcy's
signature silver and gold jewelry is show-
cased and handcrafted.
More than a jewelry store, Heartwear
Designs is clearly a labor of love. Lifelong
community activists, married 45 years,
partners in business and avid supporters
of dozens of organizations and causes,
Marcy and Michael hold the distinc-
tion of being the first couple to receive
Federation's Frank A. Wetsman and Sylvia
Simon Greenberg Young Leadership
Awards in the same year (1985).
Busy Years
Recollecting those busy years — having
children, building their jewelry business,
building community, studying with the
Wexner Heritage Foundation — a tire-
less volunteer and fundraiser on behalf
of Federation, the Jewish Community
Center, Jewish Family Service, the Detroit
Resettlement Service, the UJA Young
Womens' Leadership Cabinet, the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society, Yad Ezra, the
Scleroderma Foundation — and topping it
all as founder and president of the Pasteur
Elementary School Alumni Foundation,
dedicated to the children of Detroit —
Marcy Feldman concludes, All those
things that I've been involved in are all
worthy, all wonderful causes:'
Over a cup of tea, a conversation with
Feldman about her activism in Jewish
Detroit easily turns to reminiscing about
her mother, Vivian, married to Lou Berry,
both fervent community activists of
blessed memory.
"There's no question that my mother
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May 21 • 2015
lommt
Marcy Feldman
was a role model. She was strong, widowed
when I was 23 months old, raised us alone
until I was 16 when she married Lou.
Friends will always remember her for her
sharp sense of humor, but I'll never forget
one of the first lessons she taught me was
tikkun olam [repairing the world]," she said.
"I must have been around 9, in the
fourth grade at Pasteur Elementary School,
when I mentioned to my mother that there
was a little girl in my class who wore the
same clothes every day and she was so
thin. So, next thing I know, my mother
packed up some of my clothes and took
me in hand to deliver them to the girl's
house one evening.
"I remember standing on her porch
in the dark, aghast to find the girl home
alone with her brother. It was then that I
realized that there were people who had
less than we did. My mother was a widow
with three little girls:' Feldman continued.
"She worked at Congregation Shaarey
Zedek as the administrator of the schools,
came home every night to make us dinner,
invited people for Shabbat. I don't know
how she did it all and made it fun:'
Asked about those things that make her
most proud, Feldman is quick to answer,
"My kids, of course:'
There's Ronit, an editor at Random
House, married to attorney Eric Wagman
in New Jersey (soon to make the Feldmans
proud grandparents); Noah, an audio engi-
neer in San Diego, and Joanna, an actress/
comedian with the Second City in Chicago.
Upon further reflection, Feldman turns
to a favorite topic: her elementary school
and the kids for whom she established the
Pasteur Elementary School Foundation
nearly 19 years ago.
members who pay $30 annually, $250 for
a life membership or $500 for a scholar-
ship life membership. Many others have
donated funds over the years, and through
Feldman's leadership and perseverance,
the Foundation has provided books, school
supplies, scholarships, field trips, summer
camp and many other special programs
and cultural experiences for the children
of Pasteur Elementary and their families.
Listing other highlights in her long
career as a community leader and volun-
teer, Feldman adds meeting a planeload of
Jewish Russian immigrants at midnight at
Metro airport when she was president of
Resettlement Service; campaigning for 16
years with Janet Levine to get a pool built at
the Oak Park JCC; and leading a few national
missions with Michael to Israel and Prague.
Time well spent! How many people
can recount a life of higher service and
reward?
What's next?
Feldman's thoughts turn back to the
Detroit schools and the potential to do
more. "I think in Pasteur Elementary we
have a model, a blueprint for action. I've
started a list, finding out where people
went to school and now have a database
of what I call 'City Kids: ready to connect
alumni to their former schools in Detroit
neighborhoods where they once lived. I
would love to help people replicate this
idea for their schools:'
Ask Feldman — a woman who defines
the very term activist — what activism
means to her and get a simple answer,
straight from the heart:
"Doesn't everyone want to be an activist
in some way and make the world a better
place? If not for us, then for our kids, their
future. Tikkun olam. It's all about repair-
ing the world. I take that literally:"
❑
The Power Of Saying Yes
"I can say that I'm proudest of the fact
that there are so many people across the
country (alumni, friends and generous
supporters) who said yes to us — because
they realized it's all about children in our
city who don't have the advantages that we
had when we were growing up in Detroit:'
she said.
Today, the Pasteur Elementary School
Alumni Foundation has a database of
1,500 alumni, with more than 270 current
Marcy Feldman will receive the
Jewish Community Relations
Council's 2015 Activist Award at a
dessert reception 7 p.m. Monday,
June 1, at Adat Shalom Synagogue
in Farmington Hills. $18. Higher trib-
ute and pre-glow dinner opportuni-
ties are available. Visit detroitjcrc.
org or call (248) 642-5393.