16 | JULY 23 • 2020 

was able to go to the lot himself and test 
drive a few different cars, then pick the 
one he wanted. 
“Before [Here to Help] had given me the 
car, I used to actually ride a bike or bus to 
work,” Smith told the JN. “I was very, very 
humbled but elated that they chose to help 
me begin to get my life going back in a 
positive way.” 
Smith, who was incarcerated for 29 
years, was glad to hear about the new 
Returning Hope for Returning Citizens 
program. 
“Being formerly incarcerated, I under-
stand the need for having a support sys-
tem,” he said. “It’
s not often you get people 
who are willing to help formerly incarcer-

ated people with an open heart with no 
strings attached.” 
Smith has an associate’
s degree and cur-
rently works at a factory that manufactures 
trucks for Ford. He said readapting to 
society after incarceration felt both excit-
ing and challenging. 
“You’
d be so excited and happy to come 
home, and then everything has changed. 
It’
s really like [being] a child all over 
again, having to learn everything,” he said. 
“I’
ve still got a long way to go, but I think 
I’
ve done a great job adapting to society, 
keeping myself around the right people, 
involved in the right stuff.” 
Removing roadblocks to success for 
Smith and more than 9,000 other grant-

ees is the ultimate purpose of the Here 
to Help, Schwartz said, and he hopes to 
expand the organization beyond southeast 
Michigan one day. 
“What we’
ve learned over the years is 
that there are obviously a lot of roadblocks 
and a lot of difficulty in breaking a cycle of 
poverty,” Schwartz said. “And there’
s a lot 
of hardworking, determined individuals … 
who run into emergency situations where, 
with a simple hand up, they can keep 
moving forward on this path to success.” 

To donate to Here to Help, visit heretohelpfoun-

dation.org/activek/Donation-a30. Donations can 

be made to the general organization or earmarked 

toward a specific program.

continued from page 15

“There’s a lot of hardworking,
determined individuals … who run into 
emergency situations where, with a
simple hand up, they can keep moving 
forward on this path to success.”

— BOB SCHWARTZ

HERE TO HELP

James Wilburn on the 
furniture he received 
from Here to Help.

Leah McCulloh got rent 
assistance from the Roof 
Over Head program.

Jews in the D
cover story

