APRIL 30 • 2020 | 13
Yad Ezra Moves to
Deliveries Only
Thanks to army of volunteers, all clients
will still be served.
W
e had just suc-
cessfully com-
pleted our
Passover grocery dis-
tribution to more than
1,000 families via curb-
side and home deliveries
when I received a letter
sent to my home from
an anonymous client who
expressed deep concern about
Yad Ezra moving to a “deliv-
eries-only” process during the
pandemic.
The author of the letter was
so worried that s/he would not
get home grocery delivery due
to the (unstated) far distance
that s/he lives. This letter
haunted me because, since the
beginning of the pandemic, my
main concern has been ensuring
our vulnerable client families
they would receive the groceries
they depend on, regardless of
what it would take on our part
to make that happen.
Yad Ezra has always relied on
a corps of volunteers to work
with our small staff to execute
its mission. On April 21, we
officially launched our “deliver-
ies-only” process with the help
and support of many volunteers
from all over the community.
Providing approximately 1,100
deliveries a month is a daunting
endeavor, and Daniella Harpaz
Mechnikov, Yad Ezra’
s logistics
czarina, is leading the charge to
coordinate this effort.
With the support of other
Yad Ezra team members, vol-
unteers are invited to sign up
and choose their delivery dates
for dropping off groceries to
client families. Volunteers are
registering to do deliveries in
Rochester, Bloomfield Hills,
Clarkston, Dearborn Heights,
Detroit, Troy, Livonia, Pontiac,
Walled Lake, Waterford
and any other city where
clients live.
To ease some of the
burden, Jewish Family
Service and the Ford
Motor Company Fund
have offered some of their
drivers and vans to deliver
to the more concentrated areas
that we serve (Oak Park and
Southfield). Drivers from Ann
Arbor and Flint continue to
come to Yad Ezra to pick up
groceries for their client families
(43 and 18, respectively), along
with those picking up for 20
Kadima and 22 JARC homes.
While our phones continue
to ring off the hook from clients
with questions and concerns,
our community’
s response to
collectively helping manage
this pandemic continues to
be a force that helps us get
through the more exhausting
days. Our Jewish community,
under Federation’
s leadership,
has come together in ways that
provide us with the resources
needed to support the many
vulnerable and isolated individ-
uals during this unprecedented
time.
I wish I could contact the
concerned client and reassure
her/him that healthy groceries
will be delivered to their door,
regardless of their address.
Because I don’
t know who that
person is or where s/he lives,
I can only hope they see this
piece in the Detroit Jewish News,
our community’
s messenger,
and are comforted by the fact
that they are not alone, or, more
importantly, not forgotten.
Lea Luger is executive director of Yad
Ezra.
Lea Luger
Click. Call. Give Now.
www.hfldetroit.org • 248.723.8184
Hebrew Free Loan Detroit
6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48301
@HFLDetroit
Has your business or personal financial situation
been impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak? Have
you been concerned about meeting your expenses
during the shutdown?
Thanks to remote technologies, Hebrew Free
Loan (HFL) is here and available to help
Michigan’s Jewish residents with a no fee and interest-
free loan of a maximum of $10,000 to cover:
• Small business losses.
• Lost wages because you can’t go in to work.
• Child-care costs when schools are closed.
• Funds lost due to cancelled travel plans.
• Life challenges where your cash flow won’t cover
your costs.
HFL promises and provides:
• Confidential, Interest-free loans up to $10,000
• Our application is available online at
https://application.hfldetroit.org/
• The HFL loan interview process will be expedited
remotely to help Michigan Jewish community
members who need help – safely and socially
distant.
• Co-signer rules will be reviewed on a case by case
basis - (HFL typically requires two co-signers for
each loan).
Contact HFL at info@hfldetroit.org or leave a
voice message at 248.723.8184 for application
assistance.
Please share this information with any Jewish
resident in Michigan who may need assistance.
Also, if you are in a postition to donate to help
Michigan Jews thrive during these stressful times,
please go to hfldetroit.org/donate/.
STORY
Our
STORY
Our