 APRIL 2 • 2020 | 15

D

uring this time of social 
distancing and with 
many house-
hold items in scarce 
supply, Temple Shir 
Shalom spearheaded a 
GoFundMe campaign 
to deliver food and 
pre-packaged bags to 
those in need.
The temple part-
nered with the volunteer-run 
Oakland County Poverty and 
Homelessness Task Force and 
other nonprofit organizations. 
In three days, the campaign 
raised more than $4,000, 
enough to surpass its original 
goal of 80 grocery baskets.
Naomi Parr, a sophomore at 
Bloomfield Hills High School 
and member of Temple Shir 
Shalom, recognized that many 
of her classmates who rely on 
school for some meals might 
not have enough to eat.
Naomi and her mother, 
Allison, reached out to Shir 
Shalom’
s Rabbi Daniel Schwartz 
about how to help. He put them 
in touch with Kimber Bishop-
Yanke, chair of the task force.
“The main issue we were 
facing was that no one would 
sell goods to us because of the 
madness going on right now,
” 
Allison Parr said. 
Thanks to Schwartz, who had 
a connection at Joe Randazzo’
s 
market, they were able to buy 
120 dozen eggs, 160 pounds of 
pasta and 90 gallons of milk. 
The Parrs continued their 

shopping at the Walmart in Troy 
and filled five giant carts with 
perishable items and 
boxed and canned 
goods to help feed 
more than 100 fam-
ilies.
Pontiac-based 
nonprofit Micah 6 
provided fruits and 
vegetables to go into 
the prepackaged bags. 
The Parrs took the bags to 
State Rep. Brenda Carter’
s office 
March 21, where volunteers 
distributed it to families in the 
Pontiac area by dropping it off 
on people’
s porches, knocking 
and then waving to the people 
from their cars.
 “This drop-off provides fam-
ilies who might struggle with 
transportation the opportunity 
to get the goods they need,
” 
Bishop-Yanke said.
The baskets reached about 
180 people whose names were 
provided by local social service 
agencies.
Temple Shir Shalom will con-
tinue to monitor its GoFundMe 
campaign and channel the pro-
ceeds into additional grocery 
bags, according to Allison Parr.
Bishop-Yanke said they are 
planning on two more pack-
ings, and there could be more. 
“People want to help, and I 
think it is important to give 
people ways to help but also in a 
way that follows social distanc-
ing practices,
” she said. 

COURTESY OF ALLISON PARR

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

Temple Shir Shalom raises thousands of 
dollars for COVID-19 food packages.

Making a Difference

ABOVE: Sophomore 
Naomi Parr wanted 
to help people 
who might need 
food during the 
quarantine.

015_DJN040220_JD Shir Shalom April2.indd 15
015_DJN040220_JD Shir Shalom April2.indd 15
3/30/20 1:25 PM
3/30/20 1:25 PM

