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continued from page 90

“I am in a good place
in my life with family,
friends, health and
economic stability.
So, if there is an
opportunity to get my
hands dirty and help,
I want to know I did a
good deed in my life
where others will gain.”

— Sue Goldsmith

“We need to keep
encouraging our best
and brightest to enter
the field of research and
medicine so we all can
have a healthier future.”

— Jay Kalisky

“When I represent
outside the Jewish
community, it is a
source of pride to know
just how tightly knit our
Jewish community is
in taking care of each
other as well as
others. When you
volunteer and give of
yourself, you get so
much more out of it
than what you give.”

— Ron Elkus

92

July 18 • 2017

jn

and funding that is vital for researching treatments and an even-
tual cure for the disease. Since 2015, the Ribiats have walked and
raised thousands of dollars for the local chapter of the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation.
Still, her cornerstone tzedakah project remains her Mitzvah
Crib, where for 16 years she has been collecting gently used cloth-
ing and toys for the Jewish community of Oak Park that members
of the community drop off at cribs located in Adat Shalom Syna-
gogue, Congregation Beth Ahm and Hillel Day School.
“Tzedakah is an important Jewish value I practice each day and
something I teach my children,” Ribiat said. “They are not doing
[tzedakah] just because they are being told, They themselves
have seen the enjoyment they give to others when they know how
much their donations of time and possessions are appreciated.”

Sue Goldsmith

In 2015, Sue Goldsmith of West Bloomfield was featured as a
Mentsh of the Month for her efforts to create a future shower and
laundry facility for Detroit’s homeless popula-
tion. (“Clean Intentions,” Dec. 31, 2015). Her
journey as a longtime volunteer for Corner
Laundry and Shower Service (CLASS) — which
will be an extension of homeless services pro-
vided by Corktown’s Manna Meal Soup Kitchen,
located within St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at
1950 Trumbull Ave. — started out as a one-day
Mitzvah Day volunteering project with the Jew-
ish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
Since the story was published, the century-old church expand-
ed the available basement space for the facility. When completed,
CLASS will accommodate up to four shower stalls and four com-
mercial washers and dryers. Upgrading a basement in a building
over a century old comes with its challenges and a large price
tag — an estimated $120,000 for asbestos removal, construction,
plumbing and electrical work to complete the project. Addition-
ally, the facility will need $25,000 annually for supplies, mainte-
nance and energy costs.
According to Janet Ray, CLASS core committee member, volun-
teers like Goldsmith have raised $70,000 so far.
Goldsmith is resolute in her dedication to the project. An
abatement company recently removed the asbestos and the
organization is about to sign on an architect. She recruited two
more friends from the Jewish community — Holly Goldstein of
West Bloomfield and David Pernick of Ferndale — to join her. The
showers and laundry are expected to be operational by early 2018.
“There is an expressed need for this service, and all of us
involved want to see it come to fruition,” Goldsmith said. “I am in
a good place in my life with family, friends, health and economic
stability. So, if there is an opportunity to get my hands dirty and
help, I want to know that I did a good deed in my life where oth-
ers will gain.”

Jay Kalisky

Since he was last featured as a Mentsh of the Month for his tire-
less work for raising awareness and money for cancer research
and advocacy, Jay Kalisky’s luminary light
within the community of cancer fighters and
survivors has only grown brighter.
Again, at more than $36,000 raised for this
year’s Relay for Life fundraiser for the Ameri-
can Cancer Society, Kalisky was the event’s top
fundraiser. During the daylong event, held June
3 on the grounds of St. Mary’s Preparatory in
Orchard Lake, Kalisky was a member of “Bubjo’s
Team” which raised almost $67,000. He could be found at the
event throughout the day, helping set up luminary candles, greet-
ing participants and serving them a flight of chili at the event’s
first annual chili cookoff.
Kalisky said that raising money privately is more vital than
ever before. According to Kalisky, threats to cancer research and

treatment include the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and the
Trump Administration’s 2018 Federal Budget Proposal, which
would slash funding to the National Cancer Institute by $1 bil-
lion, to just under $4.5 billion. It was $5.5 billion in 2017. This $1
billion was money allocated to cancer research as part of former
Vice President Joe Biden’s Moonshot Initiative, which looked to
accelerate cancer research by 10 years in the span of only half
that time.
Kalisky continues his activism in the American Cancer Society
Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). Though this lobby, Kalisky
continues to visit with Michigan and U.S. senators in Lansing
and Washington, making a case to fund treatment for Medicaid
patients receiving positive colonoscopy results and cancer
patients who increasingly rely on oral chemotherapies as their
best course of treatment. According to Kalisky, Michigan remains
one of only eight states that do not reimburse patients for oral
chemotherapy, forcing many to be limited to IV chemotherapy
treatments or accrue enormous medical bills.
Still, as his own son Josh Kalisky completes his medical resi-
dency in anesthesiology at the University of Illinois College of
Medicine in the company of bright, young oncological research-
ers, Kalisky remains hopeful that one day there will be a cure for
cancer.
“We need to keep encouraging our best and brightest to enter
the field of research and medicine so we all can have a healthier
future,” Kalisky said. “Getting to know these people through my
son’s hard work motivates me even further to raise money to
continue funding research until we have a cure.”

Ron Elkus

Whether he is collecting mittens or bicycles for the poor,
helping to raise merriment at a Purim or Chanukah party or
leading seders for disabled adults, or biking
for miles on end to raise funds for cancer
research, Ron Elkus of Huntington Woods
does it to spread love and the pride he has in
being Jewish.
Over the years, Elkus, co-owner of The
Shirt Box in Farmington Hills, has given
customers opportunities to participate in
fundraisers and drives for charitable organi-
zations that help the poor, hungry and homeless such as Back
Alley Bikes, Yad Ezra and Heart 2 Hart.
In the 1990s, he served on the boards of JARC and MJAC
(Michigan Jewish AIDS Coalition). He was a 1997 recipient of
the Community Services Heart of Gold Award from the United
Way of Southeast Michigan. And he was an active founding
member of Shir Tikvah in Troy.
For the past eight years, he has peddled hundreds of
miles and raised thousands of dollars for the Make a Wish
Foundation in memory of Alex Graham.
For over 20 years, one of his favorite places to channel his
volunteerism energy is at JARC, where he marvels over “the
unconditional joy and love” he receives from JARC clients.
Whatever he does — and he has been featured as a mentsh
for his good works many times in the JN — Elkus does it with
heart and pride in his Jewish identity.
“From the time I was a child, my parents raised me to do
mitzvot, perform tikkun olam, and to give back to both the
Jewish community and the wider Detroit community is key
to living the Jewish way,” said Elkus, a proud alumnus of
Michigan State University who served in leadership roles at
Hillel both as a student and adult.
“When I represent outside the Jewish community, it is a
source of pride to know just how tightly knit our Jewish com-
munity is in taking care of each other as well as others. When
you volunteer and give of yourself, you get so much more out
of it than what you give.” •