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.
”