and those changes are sometimes
abrupt. We are not going anywhere,
but I do worry about various pots
of $100,000 here or $500,000 there.
What we will look like three years
from now will be a little different
from what we looked like three years
ago, but our core will remain the
same.”

FAMILY AFFAIR

While the “Jewish” in the agency’s
name respects its origins, the word
“Family” has additional meaning to
some. Many of the 1,000 volunteers
who help each year are related.
Erica Solway, 36, of Ann Arbor,
for instance, learned about vol-
unteerism from
watching her moth-
er, Nancy Solway,
a current board
member. When
Erica was a teenag-
er, she tagged along
with her mother, a
“Friendly Visitor” to
Erica and Nancy
a disabled woman
Solway
named Lynn. Blind
and confined to a wheelchair, Lynn
lived at the Prentis Apartments in
Oak Park, but a broken leg had tem-
porarily put her in Menorah House
in Southfield.
“I had to do community service
for school, so I asked if anyone at
Menorah House could use a visitor,”
Erica recalled. “I ended up develop-
ing a bond with a man named Othni
and visiting with him weekly for a
couple of years until I went to col-
lege. He died, but I still stay in touch
with his family.”

Her experiences at Menorah
House fueled her career in geriatrics.
“I had never given it much
thought before, but it really changed
me, and I just ran with the experi-
ence,” said Erica, currently associ-
ate director of the University of
Michigan National Poll on Healthy
Aging and who formerly worked on
health and aging policy for the U.S.
Senate. “It was pretty eye-opening
to realize how much can be done to
improve the care for older adults.”
Now 66 and serving her second
stint on the board of directors,
Nancy Solway of Bloomfield Hills,
said meeting Lynn in 1988 through
the Friendly Visitors program had a
major effect on her life.
“We were good friends from the
day we met, and we visited for about
23 years until she passed away six
years ago. It was a great relationship
for both of us and a very special part
of my life,” Nancy said. “Being a part
of JFS has influenced and grounded
my life. It’s a group I am proud and
honored to be affiliated with.”
Current board chair Suzan Curhan
of West Bloomfield fondly recalls
how her step-grandmother, the late
Edythe Jackier, was
an active volunteer.
“It speaks to the
heart and soul of
who we are,” said
Curhan, 56. “We
are such a dynamic
group and passion-
ate with different
Suzan Curhan
views that come to
the table. We are
not perfect and there is a lot that

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continued on page 38

Join The
Celebration

JFS’ 90th Anniversary Event on
Wednesday, May 30, features a
talk by Jeannette Walls, author of
The Glass Castle, a captivating
memoir of her youth spent in
dire poverty because of her
parents’ alcoholism and mental
illness. Tickets for the event,
which is chaired by Andi and
Larry Wolfe, are $36, two for
$50 and $10 for students. The
program begins at 7 p.m. at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
in Southfield. For tickets or
sponsorship information,
call (248) 592-2339 or visit
jfsannualevent.org.

JHELP is for: Children, Teens, Families,
Seniors and Others in Need

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Made possible by The Jewish Fund, the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation
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May 17 • 2018

37