American Friends of Magen David Adorn
Dr. John J. Mames Chapter — Michigan Region

try:' Good says. "But I was available,
had experience working in group
homes and started training volun-
teers with the goal to open a shelter
in April 1988.
"Then, on a freezing, bitter cold
day in January, a 16-year-old girl
knocked on the door of the church.
She had heard we were starting a
shelter. I spent a couple of hours
with her and could not find a single
place for her to go. She had no family,
nobody in her circle she knew who
was safe and able to take her in. So
we just looked at each other and said,
`We're starting today"'
As Good describes, opening
Alternative For Girls — a non-sectar-
ian organization — was an intensive
effort, a "crazy time, calling in all vol-
unteers [including the church pastor]
to take shifts around the clock"
In April 1988, they got a call from
HUD and received a windfall grant
of $376,000, effective in July. Since
then, they have grown steadily, now
operating out of a two-story building
on West Grand Boulevard.
AFG has evolved into a multi-
service agency, a licensed shelter and
a community center with an operat-
ing budget of $4.3 million, a staff of
77 and the support of more than 200
volunteers and service partners.
In 27 years, there have been many
corporate and philanthropic partners.
From the Jewish Fund (established
in 1997 with proceeds of the sale of
Sinai Hospital to the Detroit Medical
Center), for example, AFG received a
three-year $150,000 grant, starting in
2012, to expand the agency's walk-in
and phone-line services to a compre-
hensive resource center providing on-
site crisis and health programing.
In 2013, the Jewish Women's
Foundation of Metropolitan
Detroit followed with a special gift of
$20,000 to provide for the purchase of
a new van.
"There always is a story behind the
story:' Good says, "and there are also
always numbers behind the numbers.
AFG works because of the hundreds
of relationships that grow between
the teens and women who seek our
help and our wonderful staff that
includes young women who started
as young girls who first walked
through our doors for a meal or a safe
place to stay." ❑

Volunteer opportunities at AFG range

elehration,

Lgf&

ala 2015

SAVE the DATE: Thursday, October 8th

FEATURING KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dr. Charles Krauthammer

Pulitzer Prize-Winner, Syndicated Columnist, and
Author of the #1 Bestseller, Things That Matter

HONORING

Joel Jacob

_

4,

Natalie & Manny Charach • The Karp Family
Sam Berman • Julie and Marty Wiener
2015 MDA Ambulance Sponsors in formation

-

Benny Margolis • Melissa Mendelson
AFMDA Rising Star Award

Adat Shalom Synagogue

29901 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills

For information on sponsorships and the VIP reception with Dr. Krauthammer,
call 1.877.405.3913 or email Midwest@afmda.org

Co-sponsored by:

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF
MAGEN DAVID AD OM

from street outreach to tutoring to

gardening. For details or an AFG wish

list, go to alternativesforgirls.org/

AFMDA
Edor vdor Award

SAVING LIVES IN ISRAEL

DETROIT
JEWISH NEWS

JN

volunteer. A version of this article first

appeared on myJewishDetroit.org.

July 9 • 2015

21

