viewpoints >> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com j ewfro Ben Voyage 5 ometimes you get a job. And sometimes — if you're lucky and outgoing and patient, but mostly lucky — a job gets you. That's how I felt six years ago when, amidst grave demo- graphic and economic uncertainty, Repair the World tapped me to engage the Jewish com- munity in Detroit in a way that might turn our shared values into value for Detroiters. And that's how I / 110 , feel now that I'm pre- paring to transition Ben Falik into my new role as the Corporate Social Responsibility Lead for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). When I was 8 years old, we became a GM family. Two weeks after driving my Saturn station wagon back to my parents' house from New York after college, I met a girl who worked at Ford (and drove a Volvo and did not live with her parents). I wasn't looking to FCA US to complete a column on some automotive bingo card — and yet, as my next chapter, it feels cumulative and compelling. When my Grandpa David was on summer break from teaching welding at River Rouge High School, he worked in the plant building Thunderbirds and Continentals and at home building toys in his basement. Albeit removed by decades and degrees of automation and globalization, I can draw a line from his summers in the city — the work ethic, the drive to cre- ate, the sense of place — to mine. He and so many returned to Detroit after World War II and supported the Arsenal of Democracy. I can only hope to honor their legacy and the notion that this will continue to be a place of innovation and inclusion. Detroit as a company town has been the site of unprecedented prosperity and poverty over the last 100 years. In the next 100, car companies have the opportunity to support diverse economies and com- munities in Metro Detroit. Ben with a current and ,i future Detroit Tiger at Jewish Heritage Day As manager of Motor Citizens, the FCA US volunteer program, I will get to bring the "do-ocracy" of Summer in the City, the mentorship of PeerCorps and Repair the World's commitment to education and food justice to help FCA US employees, locally and across the country, invest their time and talent in building strong, resil- ient communities. As noted in the Company's 2015 Sustainability Report, "The conviction that the Group can and should be an agent of positive change is deeply embed- ded in the company culture" Challenge accepted. Challenges, of course, remain for "Jewish Detroit" Chief among them, how can we continue to leverage our bonding social capital — that which durably con- nects us to the kids we went to camp with, those future campers, the elders from our congregations, our tribe — while pursu- ing the kind of bridging social capital necessary to building relationships, coali- tions, families and businesses with our African-American and Muslim-American neighbors? I look forward to supporting Repair the World and its sister organizations in pur- suit of these greater goals. Fortunately for us, Repair the World has an exceptionally strong local team and a long-term commitment to Detroit by the national organization. The act of repairing, after all, is a process, and the process here is under way at a time when we need it dearly, deeply, daily. Stay tuned for opportunities to learn and serve (and dine) together in honor of Dr. King next month. The friends, families, partners, pro- grams, allies, advocates and angels are too many to name. The regrets, too few to mention. Instead, I hope we can celebrate together. On Jan. 8, Repair the World will host Ben Voyage, my send-off and 35th birthday party from 4-8 p.m. at the Workshop (2701 Bagley Ave.). Everyone is invited. Everyone. No gifts, please. None. I've never been good at receiving gifts and — notwithstanding the irresistibly clever name coined by Repair the World Fellow Ellie Farber and menu of my favorite things — Ben Voyage is less about me than about us and about all we've accomplished and about the pos- sibilities that lie ahead. In lieu of a gift, please consider con- tributing to Repair the World's work in Detroit at werepair.org/donate. Coat Drive! Check your closet and bring (or send) an extra coat to the party. Repair the World will be collecting dozens (hun- dreds?) as part of a coat drive to distribute across the city. And maybe — if I'm lucky and outgoing and patient, but mostly lucky — your coats will be as warm to others as you have been to me. * an alt-left echo chamber that has itself engaged in the worst kind of scurrilous, hateful defamation, baselessly maligning Trump adviser Steve Bannon as an "anti- Semite:' This character assassination violates not only the precepts of the ADL, but also the most important ethical tenets of Judaism, which exhort against engaging in spiteful rumor, gossip, innuendo and slander. How shameful the ADL blasted Bannon without full due diligence and now, too little, too late, has walked back its vicious smear against Bannon. The only smear now is that on the ADL itself. letters ADL RUSHED TO JUDGMENT It bears remembering that the "D" in the acronym ADL stands for "Defamation" The ADL was founded as an organiza- tion fighting hateful defamation against Jews. Sadly, the ADL has devolved from being a champion fighting defamation into Robert Stulberg Farmington Hills Andi Wolfe has volunteered for many causes across the community and says she always knew about Hebrew Free Loan. But HFL caught her attention with its grant proposal to the Jewish Women's Foundation to establish the agency's Building My Tomorrow fund. Andi sat on the committee that read and approved the proposal, and then she knew she wanted to be part of HFL. "I love being on the HFL Board" Andi said. "We give people opportunity. I know people might still think of us as the agency of last resort, or the place their grandparents came when they landed on these shores, but we are so much more. We help make college possible, assist in launching the small business of your dreams, get your mom the therapy she needs, or help you send your kid to summer camp. We are a place of possibility." Hebrew Free Loan, Andi said, is a place that gives her the warm fuzzies. "I love who I work with, the Board members and staff from all walks of life, and with so much heart. I enjoy meeting the borrowers, focusing on their stories. Everyone has a story, and for a short while, our stories co- mingle, which is heartwarming." Then, there is the completeness, coming full circle. Paying it forward, fund recycling, call it what you will, Andi said, community donations to HFL are pooled to fund the loans, loans are repaid, new loans are made from those payments, and things are made better. "We aren't a community without each other," Andi said. "I think everyone should support and take advantage of what HFL has to offer." Become an HFL Donor. Click. Call. Give Now. www.hfldetroit.org 248.723.8184 Health. A fresh start. A good education. The next great business idea. Hebrew Free Loan gives interest- free loans to members of our community for a variety of personal and small business needs. HFL loans are funded entirely through community donations which continually recycle to others, generating many times the original value to help maintain the lives of )cal Jews. HEBREW FREE*LOAN hfldetroit.org We Provide Loans. We Promise Dignity. 6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301 G Hebrew Free Loon Detroit Supported by = N2tMe TI AO. @HFLDetroit er.\ A December 15 2016 5