March 21 • 2019 7
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Through the Centennial Fund,
Michele and Mitchell Bleznak
Make an Investment in the Future of Jewish Detroit
Michele and Mitchell Bleznak,
both native Detroiters,
have
been longtime champions of the Jewish Federation and
its partner agencies.
Mitchell began volunteering with
Federation’
s YAD (
now NEXTGen Detroit)
and since then has
supported a variety of agencies including JVS,
Hillel,
JARC,
and Congregation Shaarey Zedek—where he continues his
parents' legacy of generosity to the Clover Hill Park Cemetery.
Michele,
a Lion of Judah member of Women’
s Philanthropy,
has been a supporter of JFS and Congregation SZ sisterhood
and is currently an active board member of Hebrew Free
Loan.
Most recently,
Michele and Mitchell have become
proud advocates for the elderly in our community through
their support for the Jewish Chaplaincy Network and the
Alzheimer’
s Association of Metro Detroit.
It is through the
touch of each of these agencies that they have grown to
appreciate the impact of Federation on their beloved Detroit
and the extended Jewish community.
Together with their children,
Adam and Meryl,
David and
Sonya and daughter Julia,
the Bleznaks have recently
continued their legacy of generosity with a gift to Federation’
s
Centennial Fund,
the central endowment campaign for
ensuring the long-term security of Jewish Detroit.
Michele
and Mitchell are creating a Perpetual Annual Campaign
Endowment (
PACE)
Fund designed to offer long-term
support to the community’
s central resource,
the Annual
Campaign.
“We understand the growing needs both in our
local Jewish community and around the world,
” they note.
“These funds will support many of those needs in perpetuity.
”
Indeed,
PACE Funds are the most flexible vehicle for providing
core services in the future.
As the Bleznaks note,
“A PACE
Fund is an investment in the future.
It allows us to feel
optimistic that the next generation will have resources to
make our community even better.
”