Please join us as a taster at

Temple Shir Shalom’s

jews d

in
the

Eighth Annual

Chicken Soup Cook-Off

F OR

ADVANCED

T ICKET
P URCHASE
P LEASE C ALL
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T ICKETS
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$5/ ADULT
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S PONSORS & P ROFESSIONAL E NTRANTS *

Art Fishman, Best Homes Title Agency, Brilliant Detroit,
Burning Bush Fund, Detroit Jewish News,
Fran Bell Grossman, Harris Altman Injury Lawyers,
Henry Ford WB Hospital,
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Shir Shalom Young Adult Group *A S OF 1-12-18

Sunday, January 28

from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM
At The Corners, 2075 Walnut Lake Road, WB

Co-Chairs: Amy Liefer & Jan Pederson

Proudly supporting the efforts of:
I Am My Brother’s Keeper Ministries: Detroit Homeless Shelter,
Young Adult Group of Temple Shir Shalom,
Shir Shalom Religious School Scholarships,
Lev b’Lev (Heart to Heart) Women’s Group,
Brilliant Detroit: Creating Kid Success Neighborhoods

May the Best Soup Win...

edson Design

January 18 • 2018

Local couple builds retreat in Nicaragua
where tourists double as mentshes.

KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Taste 20+
Soups!

20

Sustainable Tourism

jn

T

center where we provide authentic
housands of miles from
experiences for groups of travelers.”
home, Detroit natives Jennifer
They landed back in Detroit and
Cooper, 34, and Jared Acker,
moved to Denver in February 2010,
35, are waiting to welcome Metro
where Cooper taught high school
Detroiters and beyond to a sustain-
able tourism experience of
ABOVE: Jennifer sculpture at an art magnet
Cooper and
school in southwest Denver.
their own making.
Jared Acker on Acker, meanwhile, taught ESL
Originally from
the upper area to kindergarteners, first- and
Birmingham and West
of their lodge
second-graders in southeast
Bloomfield, respectively,
in
El Tránsito,
Denver.
they’ve built a lodge over-
Nicaragua.
But they kept an eye on real
looking the beach in El
estate in Nicaragua, making
Tránsito, Nicaragua, aimed
contact with a real estate agent who,
at helping guests engage with the
over the course of six years, helped
community through education, ecol-
ogy and the arts. It’s a way for visitors them look for properties. “We want-
ed to be in Nicaragua in our minds,”
to help better the El Tránsito com-
she says.
munity as well as themselves, Acker
They returned to Nicaragua in July
says. Volunteer projects can be tai-
lored to include teaching English, sea 2015 for a scouting trip with Acker’s
brother Evan and two friends, staying
turtle conservation, building homes,
at a beach house by night and seeing
art projects, cooking, beach cleanup
different beaches and towns during
and reforestation, he adds.
Married for four years and together the day.
They first stumbled upon El
for 10, Cooper and Acker, who met
Tránsito, a small fishing village, while
through a mutual friend while living
seeking cover during a rainstorm.
in Chicago post-undergrad, share a
“We fell in love with the place imme-
love for travel and culture that has
diately,” Acker says. They came back
taken them around the world. The
to the United States and mapped out
pair spent a year and a half together
the project in their living room.
in Chicago and then went to South
Acker and Cooper closed on their
Korea in 2008 — after only dating a
property, an acre of land a 15-minute
year — to teach English. They trav-
walk from town on a hill that slopes
eled through Southeast Asia sepa-
down to the ocean, in April 2016.
rately before returning to the U.S.
They broke ground in November
After meeting back up in Detroit
2016 on Craft for Community, a proj-
in September 2009, they headed to
ect-based learning space, retreat cen-
Central America for a few months.
ter and language school, and com-
That trip, which included Nicaragua,
pleted work a year later. And there’s
turned out to be more than just an
a lot for guests to learn, including
excursion.
Spanish, which they can practice and
“I think since we left Central
have fun with in a practical setting,
America, we had been planning and
he says.
devising this business idea of com-
The 3,200-square-foot, six-bed-
bining both of our strengths, so the
room lodge can accommodate up
arts and project-based learning and
to 24 people. It has a lounge area
then language and social justice,
which is Jared’s background,” Cooper that overlooks the ocean, a kitchen
and living space that also opens
says. “So it evolved into this retreat

continued on page 22