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Meet (My Fellow Millennials): The Repair The World Fellows
I
(PLO\ +RVOHU )13%&
Repair the World
Detroit Fellows:
Ari Weil, Alyah
Al-Azem, Ellie
Farber and Aaron
Appel, with director
Ben Falik holding
Pasha.
Brett Mountain
am TOM, The Original Millennial:
born in January 1982, graduated
high school in 2000 and endeavored
upon this new century with cautious
optimism and an uneven attention
span. Sometimes it’s hard carrying the
banner for a generation of 80 million
Americans. On Jan. 2, 2000, when it was
still not clear whether Y2K would turn
our appliances against us, I was featured
in the Detroit Free Press as one of the
“Faces of the 21st Century” and quoted
as saying “I don’t like this impersonal
internet, email stuff.”
Fortunately, some of my fellow mil-
lennials, the Repair the World Fellows
— 20-somethings
who occasionally look
at me like I’m danc-
ing the Charleston,
whatever that is —
keep pushing me,
themselves and those
around them to be the
change they wish to
Ben Falik
see in Detroit.
Most of the work
I’ve gotten (taken?) credit for over the
past few years has actually been done by
the Repair the World Fellows, who live
and serve together for a year, wrestling
with the disrepair of the world around
them and activating people from all
walks of life to pursue education and
food justice.
Ironic as it may seem — a group of
Jewish young adults living together
in the rectory of a former Lithuanian
church in the heart of a Latino neigh-
borhood in the southwest corner of
a black city — the Fellows have built
dynamic relationships in service
and solidarity with diverse partners
throughout Detroit.
Let me share a little about this year’s
cohort (shout out to the previous three)
for a couple reasons:
1. They are Jewish Stars.
Get some face
time with medical
specialists at a
GILENYA ® event
2. They are here to recruit you — Yes,
you! — to make service a defining part
of Jewish Detroit …
Alyah Al-Azem. Alyah first got a
taste for Repair the World volunteer-
ing through Hillel at Michigan State
at our Destination Detroit program.
Now, a second-year team leader, she
coordinates service opportunities for
the Spartans and cultivates continu-
ity among community partners like
NEXTGen and Gleaners. Alyah serves
on the board of The Well; she expects
to see you Oct. 9 for Tashlich at Chene
Park on the Detroit River.
Aaron Appel. Aaron spent many non-
consecutive weeks immersed in service
in Detroit as a student at Oberlin.
During his alternative breaks and for the
last six months, he worked “harvesting
unity” at Auntie Na’s House, a grassroots
community center on the city’s West
Side. He may tap you to teach a Monday
Skills Session — insurance, financial
literacy, civil liberties, you name it — to
the refugee residents of Freedom House.
Aryeh Perlman. Aryeh played
an Oompa Loompa in the first off-
Broadway production of Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. Having grown up in
Ann Arbor and gone to the University
of Michigan, he then fled the Oompa
Loompaparazzi to teach in France
before returning to work with PeerCorps
(peercorpsdetroit.org) and Project
Healthy Community. B’nai mitzvah
students can (and should) sign up for
PeerCorps, which kicks off its fourth
year on Sept. 25. Everyone can help
harvest the fruits of our labor at the
Northwest Activities Center (Meyers and
Curtis) community garden on Oct. 16.
Ari Weil. Ari graduated from
Michigan, led a Tamarack trip to Alaska
and graciously put his rap aspirations
(rapsirations?) on hold to work with
Keep Growing Detroit. You can join him
during open hours at their Plum Street
Market Garden and — if you were there
then and remember now — tell him
about the Plum Street of yesteryear.
Ellie Farber. Ellie rounds out the
Michigan alumni and represents the
Grosse Pointes (whose Jewish News sub-
scribers number in the strong double
digits) at RTW. Already conversant in
Hebrew, she will become a bat mitzvah
in a couple of short years. You can join
her daily or weekly (strongly, don’t
dally) at the Project Healthy Community
after-school program at Schulze
Academy.
Who says youth is wasted on the
young? If you want to get to one of the
Fellows before they get to you, email
detroit@werepair.org or call me (313-
3388-BEN) and we can commence
repairing the world.
is talking GILENYA. Get your
questions answered, check
out available resources, and
connect with others saying,
“Take This!”
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Light meal served.
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Please RSVP
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You are encouraged to report
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Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch
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*
Funny Jewish Tweets
Yossie Bloch ?@rabbijoeinjm
Aug 31
Anyone else upset that Mischa Barton hasn’t yet opened a
en.
Jewish day-center in Detroit called MichiGan? OK, just me then.
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12/15
T-GYA-1325052
September 15 • 2016
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