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Glassman Genesis
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Max Feber is a Repair the World Detroit alumni, sophomore at Babson
College, CEO of BRUW and a social justice advocate.
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June 14 • 2018
jn
Max Feber
got involved with Repair the World through the PeerCorps pro-
gram when I was only a sophomore in high school. Since then,
I’ve volunteered dozens of times with RTW and have worked
hard to help bridge the gap between the city and the suburbs.
The work was always very hard. Whether we were building an
ice rink, farming at one of the urban gardens or painting a mural,
we always left feeling tired and rewarded. Tired after a long day’s
work, I would go home, eat dinner and crawl right into bed.
I learned a lot on the most recent experience I’ve had with
Repair the World. With six other PeerCorps alumni and our
leader, Rachel Fine, we traveled to Houston, Texas, to help in the
post-Harvey rebuilding process. On our trip to Houston, we saw
firsthand how quickly that warm bed can be taken away and how
challenging it is for so many to rebuild their lives after a natural
disaster.
The trip started with a tour of Houston’s Jewish community. We
started in the Federation building with a long discussion about
what the culture of the city was like in the days after the storm.
We saw photos of people canoeing down their street to save their
neighbors, homes destroyed and a video of 10 feet of water flood-
ing their JCC.
It was shocking and hard to watch,
but hearing the story of the JCC turn-
ing into a distribution center for sup-
plies and seeing the community come
together to rebuild was uplifting. We
worked with an amazing organization,
Undies for Everyone, to pack children’s
underwear to be donated to victims of
the storm or those experiencing pov-
erty in the greater Houston area.
We then started on our first labor-
intensive service project, clearing
someone’s backyard from the stuff they
had cleared out of their house follow-
ing the flooding. We were sifting through years of a family’s life
and stuffing it into Hefty bags to be taken away.
This was an overall theme throughout the weekend; it wasn’t
just homes that were destroyed but family photos, wedding dress-
es and people’s most precious memories. It was devastating to see
and truly set the scene for what type of work we would be doing
that weekend.
After Shabbat dinner and incredible pecan pie (like un-freaking-
believable), we fell asleep and got up the next day to start some
of the hardest work we had done. We were sanding walls, cutting
drywall, re-cutting drywall because we did it wrong the first time
and learning more each minute about Houston’s situation. We did
the same the next day.
We left Houston with a deep understanding of the tragedy of
Hurricane Harvey and a profound respect for the volunteers who
were giving up months — or even years — of their time to help
recreate the city that Houston was 12 months ago.
On our flight back to Detroit, we couldn’t help but think of
how lucky we are to have a community that supports us and how
much is left to do in Houston. Our eyes were opened to how tragic
these natural disasters are and how much we can do to help.
The Jewish presence in the rebuilding of Houston is incredibly
inspiring, and we are so proud to be part of that process. Working
with Repair the World gave me a completely new perspective on
what can be done to help those in need, and I’m incredibly con-
fident that we’ll all be back on the ground soon helping those in
need. •
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