24 | NOVEMBER 5 • 2020
S
oon after she started working as the
chief development officer for JVS
Human Services three years ago,
Sandy Schuster realized something about
JVS’
Women to Work program was familiar.
Her own mother, Anne, had used JVS’
services in the early 1980s, when she
returned to the workforce after
raising her children and going
through a divorce.
Now Schuster is preparing
for a COVID-era version
of Trade Secrets, an annual,
well-attended fundraiser for
that program. “Trade Secrets
at Home” will be a one-hour professionally
produced “real time” virtual presentation at
7 p.m. Nov. 19, featuring guest speaker Suzy
Farbman.
The program will include a “Mind, Body,
Spirit” raffle for a stay at a summer home
in Charlevoix, a $4,000 gift certificate to
Somerset and a 30-minute reading with
spiritual medium Rebecca Rosen. The
event’
s Signature Raffle will feature 10 sur-
prise baskets valued at a minimum of $200.
Raffle tickets can be purchased online or by
phone before Nov. 19.
JVS is encouraging event sponsors to host
small, safe, in-person gatherings in their
homes to watch the virtual program. JVS
will provide “FUNdraiser-in-a box” pack-
ages with food and other gifts that will be
available on the day of the event.
JVS provides business and career services
for all job seekers, including vocational
counseling and skills training. But the
agency has long realized that women often
need an extra boost to enter the workforce
or to move up from entry-level or low-wage
positions.
Originally called the Displaced
Homemakers program, Women to Work
was started in 1980, when women who had
stayed home to raise their children were
joining the workforce in large numbers.
Now, notes Schuster, some women are
returning to the working world after taking
time off to care for elderly parents rather
than children.
Technology is changing the nature of
work so quickly that taking even a few years
off can mean skills are outdated. In 2020
and beyond, JVS is also teaching pandem-
ic-related skills, such as how to do virtual
interviews and manage Zoom meetings.
ACHIEVING INDEPENDENCE
Since it started, Women to Work has helped
close to 2,000 women of all backgrounds,
races and religions.
Anne Schuster was divorced in 1973.
Sandy, the oldest of her four daughters, was
then 19; the youngest was in
kindergarten. Though Anne,
who died in 2005, had worked
as a bookkeeper while her
husband was in law school,
she had had no formal post-
high-school training. After
the divorce, she earned an
associate degree at Oakland
Community College and a junior account-
ing certificate at Pontiac Business School,
then turned to JVS for help writing a
resume, searching for openings and doing
interviews.
Anne Schuster had several jobs after par-
ticipating in the JVS program. She retired
after 15 years at the Michigan Employment
Security Commission.
“She was able to support herself and live
independently,
” Sandy Schuster said. “She
found her own identity. That’
s what the
Woman to Work program provides.
”
She said clients often come to JVS feeling
embarrassed at their lack of skills. “Within
a few weeks, we see their self-esteem rise,
”
Schuster said. “They walk out of this pro-
gram feeling empowered. It’
s amazing to
hear their stories about how the program
changed their lives.
”
Guest speaker Suzy Farbman, who grew
up in Detroit and graduated from the
University of Michigan, was
introduced to a wide audience
by Oprah Winfrey after pub-
lication of her first book, Back
from Betrayal, which chron-
icled the wisdom she gained
from saving her troubled
marriage. At the height of her
success as an adviser on relationships, she
was diagnosed with life-threatening cancer.
Her second book, Godsigns, is about facing
life’
s deepest spiritual challenges.
So far, JVS has raised more than $222,000
for Trade Secrets at Home.
“I feel privileged to be raising money for
a program that helped my mom and is now
helping so many other women reinvent
themselves,
” Schuster said. “The pandemic
has affected more women than men, and
they need our support more than ever.
”
The Farbman Group and HealthRise
are presenting sponsors for Trade Secrets
at Home. Other major sponsors include
Annette and Jack Aronson, the DeRoy
Testamentary Foundation, skinnytees,
EHIM and Huntington Bank.
Sponsorships are available at all levels.
Individual tickets, which include a food box
and a skinnytee favor, are $150.
For more information, contact Sandy
Schuster at sschuster@jvshumanservices.org
or (248) 233-4290.
IN
THE
JEWS D
Sandy
Schuster
The late
Anne
Schuster
Suzy
Farbman
“THEY WALK
OUT OF THIS
PROGRAM FEELING
EMPOWERED.”
— JVS’ SANDY SCHUSTER
Trade Secrets celebrates JVS’
Women to Work program.
BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Empowering
Women