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PHOTOS COURTESY DETROIT CHESED PROJECT
ABOVE: Avi Rubin and Tzadok Eliyahu, both of
Oak Park, were among the original five founders
of Detroit Chesed Project; now they oversee the
organization. LEFT: Volunteer Malky Kozlov with
Meira Hurvitz and Yosef at The Spot.
Fulfilling
Needs
Detroit Chesed Project keeps expanding its
reach to help more people.
ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
o make a difference, sometimes
all that’s needed is a serious desire
and willingness to help, and then
things will snowball from there. Detroit
Chesed Project (DCP) began with five
men, all from different industries, who
connected five years ago with a shared
intent to “give back” to the community.
After the flood of 2014, DCP worked
closely with Jewish Family Service,
organizing the delivery of thousands of
pieces of bedroom furniture to families
who’d lost theirs in the flood.
Today, DCP has grown into a com-
munity-wide chesed (kindness) orga-
nization, with a separate head for each
division. Avi Rubin and Tzadok Eliyahu,
both of Oak Park, each with young fam-
ilies and full-time jobs, oversee the entire
organization in their “spare” time.
“We’re constantly having meetings and
brainstorming how to improve,” Eliyahu
said. “There are constant hurdles in run-
ning an organization, but it’s enormously
satisfying to be fulfilling the needs of our
community.”
DCP is much different from JFS’
Project Chessed, which helped more
than 2,000 people who had no insurance
with medical needs, including doctor
appointments, surgery and medica-
tion. That program ended when the
Affordable Care Act was passed.
Detroit Chesed Project’s magic is that
it is completely volunteer-based.
Channie Goldstein of Oak Park first
got involved when she was driving her
middle-school-age daughter to and
from her volunteer position at DCP.
Eventually, she took on numerous
responsibilities within the organiza-
tion and now manages DCP’s clothing
and home goods store with Milaine
Grossbard of Southfield. Customers
come by appointment and discreetly
“shop” for needed items. As needs are
discovered, DCP works to fill them.
“We were initially given coats,”
Goldstein said. “Once, I put this warm
winter coat on a kid and saw holes in
his shoes. I said there’s something wrong
here. We made phone calls to manufac-
turers and started supplying shoes, too.”
Life happens — sudden medical emer-
gencies, financial crises — and DCP is
aware that it’s not just clothing that is
moved to the backburner. Sometimes it’s
groceries as well.
“When people have to choose between
paying their utility bills or buying
Shabbat groceries, they’ll choose to
have a warm home,” Rubin said. DCP’s
Tomchei Shabbos (literally, Supporters of
Shabbat) program delivers approximately
140 meals weekly so quietly that most
people don’t even know the program
exists until they need it.
NEEDED RESPITE
The Spot, a local respite program for
children with special needs, was started
by Shoshana Lob and Elisheva Goldberg
in 2016. They’d arranged for volunteers
to meet the children in a Southfield
apartment, where they’d play and sing
together for two hours. After a few
months, the apartment was no longer
available, and Lob and Goldberg turned
to DCP for help.
Not only did DCP find them a new
location, they took The Spot under their
wings and helped the program grow.
Currently, The Spot is open five days a
week at Beth Shalom Synagogue in Oak
Park, offers a Sunday afternoon trip and
has a separate program for older girls.
Dinner is donated by local establish-
ments, so the kids with special needs are
sent home fed, happy and ready for bed
a few hours later.
Eliyahu gifted his minivan to The Spot
so they could also provide pick-up and
drop-off. Still, Lob and Goldberg are
praying for a wheelchair-accessible van
so more kids can participate.
It’s not just the kids with special needs
who benefit. “More than what The Spot
does for the kids with special needs, it
does for their siblings, by relieving some
of the pressure when they come home
after a long day of school,” Rubin said.
He says most of the parents’ attention
is usually on their child with special
needs and The Spot enables them to give
more attention to their other children.
Miriam Pearl Bein of Southfield sends
her 6-year-old son Aron to The Spot.
“The volunteers are amazing — they
work with kids who can be difficult and
have challenging behaviors, yet they do
it with a smile and keep coming back,
week after week! Aron attending The
Spot has given me and my husband a
chance to spend extra time with our
other kids and do activities that we
wouldn’t necessarily be able to do when
he is home.”
From 5-7 p.m. is crunch time in any
busy household with the homework,
dinner, bath and bedtime routine.
“The families feel such relief that their
child/sibling is being taken care of and
surrounded by loving volunteers,” Lob
said. “And these kids become local celeb-
rities; the volunteers get to know and
love them, and the siblings feel it, too!”
MY SPECIAL PROJECT
Inclusion is an important aspect of DCP.
A program called My Special Project that
provides seasonal services or items, like
backpacks filled with school supplies and
holiday clothing, is aimed at ensuring
that kids from families undergoing crises
don’t feel different from their peers.
“When families are undergoing
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December 20 • 2018
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