NOVEMBER 21 • 2019 | 41

was time to find it a home of its 
own. In 2005, Friendship Circle 
moved into a new 5,000-square-
foot building. This would later 
become the 23,000-square-foot 
Ferber Kaufman Lifetown on 
the campus of the Meer Family 
Friendship Center. Five years 
later, a generous gift created 
the Florene and Edward Elkus 
Memorial Gym. 
Friendship Circle now has 
afterschool programs, respite 
services, weekend Sunday 
Circle, the Morrie and Cybil 
Fenkell volunteer club and 
many other family and “
Buddy”
 
programs. 
 Friendship Circle also houses 
the groundbreaking Lessons 
for Life Program. The Lessons 

For Life program enables teach-
ers to use Friendship Circle’
s 
cityscape, known as Weinberg 
Village, to teach valuable life 
and social skills. Run by vol-
unteers, this fully functioning 
“
town”
 welcomes thousands of 
students from schools across 
Michigan each year. 
In 2016, the Friendship Circle 
Farber Center opened as the 
home of Friendship Circle Soul 
Projects. Soul Projects expands 
Friendship Circle’
s services into 
the lives of adults with special 
needs. The center is home to 
the Dresner Soul Studio, Soul 
Cafe and Fetter Hall. The café, 
gallery and art studios allow 
young adults the opportunity 
to learn vocational skills and 

explore their talents. 
“
Friendship Circle has 
become a vital organ in our 
community,”
 Levi says. “
It’
s 
needed, essential and integral. 
It has also become an example 
for Friendship Circles across 
the country. As we celebrate 
25 years of service, we know 
now more than ever it is our 
responsibility to ensure its sus-
tainability.”
 
Creating the Friendship 
Circle Endowment Fund will 
ensure the organization will 
continue to sustain, grow 
and expand. It will also allow 
Friendship Circle to remove all 
financial hardship from anyone 
who wants to participate in its 
programs. 

“
This organization is a fam-
ily,”
 Levi says. “
A true circle of 
friends that extends to every-
one who has been touched by 
someone within Friendship 
Circle.”
Thousands of individuals, 
now spanning across the globe, 
have had the opportunity to see 
their beauty within, all because 
one couple asked the question, 
“Who needs friends?”
 They 
then dedicated their lives to 
answering the question with 
everything they do.

See more stories about Friendship 
Circle’s programs in upcoming issues 
of the JN.

“This organization is a family, 
A true circle of friends that extends 
to everyone who has been touched 
by someone within Friendship Circle.”

 
— RABBI LEVI

Get involved go to friendshipcircle.org