jews d

in
the

Calling
Volunteers

For A Feel-Great
Shopping Day

NCJW’s Back 2
School pop-up
store to serve
Detroit children
in need.

VIVIAN HENOCH
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

G

etting ready for that first day
back to school doesn’t get any
better than this: On Sunday,
Aug. 20, the National Council of Jewish
Women, Greater Detroit Section
(NCJW/Greater Detroit) teams up with
JCRC/AJC and nine local social ser-
vice agencies to host an estimated 500
elementary school children and their
families at the Back 2 School Store, a
one-day annual event, which runs from
9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Detroit. The event

also includes an Interfaith Health Fair
with free health screenings for the chil-
dren’s parents and guardians.
An NCJW program, now in its fourth
year in Detroit, the pop-up store is set
up with the look and feel of a depart-
ment store, where each child is invited
to “shop” with a volunteer personal
shopper who assists with the selection
of new school clothing, including two
shirts, pants, socks, underwear, a win-
ter coat, hat, gloves and even cool new
sneakers. Every child also selects a new
backpack, fills it with school supplies,
personal care items and then chooses
a new book. The back-to-school gift to
each child is estimated at a total value
of $180.

ONE DAY ONLY, BY INVITATION ONLY

ABOVE AND RIGHT:
Children who come to the
pop-up store have a lot of fun
choosing new items for school.

“The children come to us from pre-qual-
ified, low-income homes — all pre-regis-
tered for the event by selected social ser-
vice agencies,” explains Sallyjo Levine,
co-chair of the event along with Sharyn
Gallatin and Lauren Koenigsberg. “Our
goal is to provide the items the children
need to start the school year on the right
foot — and to come to class with enthu-
siasm and self-esteem — ready to learn

with the positive attitude and tools they
need for success.
“Every item of clothing we provide is
new,” Levine adds. “As a rule, we shop for
the event according to our best estimate
of the number of children we have regis-
tered, their ages, genders and sizes. And
we promise every child who walks into
our store that they will walk out with
everything on the list of items we pro-
vide — or that, if we’re missing an item
in their size, we’ll get it for them within
a week or two. And beyond filling their
shopping bags with goodies, we’re com-
mitted to giving each child — and their
family members — our individual and
loving attention.”
The nine agencies participating in
the event this year include Alternatives
for Girls, Brilliant Detroit, Detroit
Parent Network, Downtown Boxing
Gym, Matrix Human Services, Orchards
Children’s Services, People’s Community
Services of Metropolitan Detroit,
Southwest Solutions and Spectrum
Human Services. For agencies bring-
ing more than 50 students to the event,
NCJW/Greater Detroit is subsidizing bus
transportation if needed.

continued on page 18

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August 3 • 2017

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