22 | NOVEMBER 28 • 2019

Jews in the D

Father and

son fi
nd

hope and

purpose

through

Friendship

House.

Meet
Josh
& Joey

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

Father and son, Joey and Josh
Roberts, were introduced to
the Daniel B. Sobel Friendship
House when Joey’s wife began
a battle with cancer in 2008.
“Josh was in law school when
my wife got sick,” Joey said.
“He started self-medicating to
help deal with her nine-year
battle with cancer. Self-medicat-
ing turned into a drug addic-
tion.”
The Roberts family became
regulars at Friendship House
over the next few years. Joey
and his wife attended Al-Anon
meetings, and Josh attended
recovery meetings and Jewish
support groups there.
“Friendship House was such
a blessing,” Joey said. “Many
years Josh was in and out of
recovery and rehabilitation
centers. Because of Friendship
House, he was able to fi
nish law
school.”
Three years ago, Josh’s
mother died, and he sank to
his lowest point. He moved to
a nine-month Jewish recovery
program in California that
changed his life. Coming

home to his support system at
Friendship House, he was able
to continue to integrate his
Judaism and his recovery.
“It wasn’t until my mom
passed away that I fi
nally got it
together,” Josh said. “Through
everything, I’ve been involved
with Friendship House. I went
to Shabbat dinners, Thursday
recovery meetings and retreats.
They’ve become a family.”
Josh is celebrating three
years of recovery in February.
He now leads the Thursday
night recovery meeting that
started his journey.
Since his wife’s passing,
Joey is a regular volunteer at
Friendship House, cooking
weekly Shabbat meals and
taking his therapy dog on his
visits to hospice patients and
the homebound.
“I see my wife smiling
through Josh’s face every day.
He stands tall and is proud of
himself,” Joey said. “Through
the negative of addiction, we
found Friendship House. And
through my wife’s death, Josh
found recovery.”

Get involved,
go to
friendshipcircle.org/
foreverfriendship

Adopt a Family for the Holidays

The holidays are a wonderful
time of year and most of us
look forward to them with
great anticipation. But the
same can’
t be said for families
struggling to make ends meet
or older adults living far from
loved ones or community
members facing a mental
health crisis, according to
Jewish Family Service.
But you can make a differ-
ence by participating in JFS’

Adopt a Family program. You
can give people in need not
only a gift to unwrap, but the
knowledge that someone is
thinking about them during
this time of year.

Shop for an individual or
family, purchase gift cards or
make a general donation to
the program. Forms to sign up
are available on jfsdetroit.org.
Drop-off week is Dec.
9-13 at the JFS office in West
Bloomfield.
JFS is partnering with
Toyology. Mention JFS when
shopping at any of Toyology’
s
four locations until Dec. 8 and
they’
ll donate 20 percent of
purchases made to support
the Adopt a Family program.
Questions? Contact Lindsay
Leder at (248) 592-2309 or
lleder@jfsdetroit.org.

Ultimate Indoor Recess

The Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit, in
partnership with JFamily,
is planning the “Ultimate
Indoor Recess,” an afternoon
of family fun from 12:30-3:30
p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, at On
the Dunes, 2055 Haggerty
Road, in Commerce
Township.
Fowling, golf and putt-
putt simulators, axe throw-
ing (for adults), Star Trax,
unlimited arcade games and

a dodge ball tournament are
just some of the fun things in
store for this awesome family
afternoon for kids of all ages.
Cost is $45 per family. An
$18 donation to Federation
per family is required to
attend this event. No addi-
tional gift is required for cur-
rent donors.
Questions? Contact Karen
Kaplan at kaplan@jfmd.org
or (248) 203-1453.

MI MARKETING SERVICES

Detroit Dog Rescue Gets a Lotta Love

Success: 96.3 WDVD-FM’
s
Blaine Fowler Morning Show
conducted its second suc-
cessful annual radiothon for
Detroit Dog Rescue and raised

more than $60,000 once again
for Detroit’
s only no-kill dog
foster and adoption shelter
founded by Jewish community
member Kristina Rinaldi.