sports
Dinner,
Softball,
Now Bowling
Bond Community
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July 20 • 2017
jn
teve Achtman sees the Jewish
community come together each
year at the InterCongregational
Men’s Club dinner in February and in
the InterCongregational Men’s Club
Summer Softball League during the
warm weather months.
“We take a lot of pride in that
league,” said Achtman, who helps run
it. “We have 18 teams this year, the
most since the league started in
1996 with six teams. It has to be the
largest all-Jewish softball league in
the country.”
Those 18 teams represent Reform,
Conservative and Orthodox temples
and synagogues.
“We all bond on the softball dia-
mond,” Achtman said.
More bonding should happen,
Achtman said. That’s why the Walled
Lake resident is part of a small
committee that’s working to plan
community-wide social events,
focusing on sports, which usually
are big draws.
“Our group sat around a table at
Panera Bread on Orchard Lake Road
[in West Bloomfield Township] two
months ago and brainstormed some
ideas,” Achtman said.
One of those ideas has become
reality.
The inaugural InterCongregational
Men’s Club Bowling Night — featuring
pizza, beer and two games of bowl-
ing — will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Sept. 6, at Langan’s Nor-West Lanes,
32905 Northwestern Highway in
Farmington Hills.
Cost is $30 per person ($22 for a
non-bowler). At the door, it will be $35
and $27.
Jerusalem Pizza will be available for
those who keep kosher, and there will
be a cash bar.
A maximum 64 bowlers can partici-
pate, four to a lane.
“Here’s the kicker,” Achtman said.
“We’re going to put all the bowlers’
names in a hat and draw for who will
be on each lane. You may or may not
bowl with your friends. We’d love to
see some new friendships come out of
the night.”
It’s not going to be a night of fierce
competition, Achtman said. It will be
more of a social event.
“We want bowlers of all abilities to
participate,” he said.
Call Achtman at (248) 505-3939 for
more information.
SUMMER SOULSTICE
It couldn’t have gone any better.
That was Gregg Leshman’s assess-
ment of the Southfield Summer
Soulstice 5K run/walk and one-third-
mile kids’ fun run last month that was
accompanied by the Southfield Spirit
Fest parade and festival.
Leshman is the founder and orga-
nizer of the fourth annual run and fes-
tival, an homage to the beginning of
summer. The parade was added this
year by the Southfield Ambassadors,
an all-volunteer group of Southfield
residents and business owners who
work to promote the city.
The parade kicked off from
Lawrence Tech and traveled to the
Southfield municipal campus on
Evergreen, site of the run and festival.
Leshman said the parade had about
30 entries including marching bands,
fire trucks, community groups, the
Detroit Lions’ mascot Roary and the
unofficial Southfield mascot Sunny.
As for the 5K race, “We had nearly
300 runners and about 1,000 specta-
tors,” Leshman said.
Before the race started, runners and
spectators were treated to the nation-
al anthem sung by recording artist
Kimmie Horn while a Southfield Fire
Department ladder truck displayed a
huge American flag nearby.
“It gave you chills,” Leshman said.
The race winners were Cristian
Vorovenci (16:38) and Denisa
Costescu (19:44).
Proceeds from the day and night
benefitted Make-A-Wish Michigan,
South Oakland Shelter in Lathrup
Village, Friends of the Southfield
Police Department, Southfield
Firefighters Charities, Southfield
Public Arts Commission and Soles 4
Shoes, with each earning about $250.
Eighty pairs of shoes were collected
for Soles 4 Shoes.
Leshman, 51, a serious runner for
about 20 years, developed an affinity
for Southfield when he was property
manager for the Southfield Town
Center office complex. •
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