20 | NOVEMBER 26 • 2020 

T

he nonprofit Life 
Remodeled works to 
transform Detroit com-
munities in need. It’
s headquar-
tered in the Durfee Innovation 
Society (DIS), formerly Durfee 
Elementary-Middle School on 
the campus of Central High 
School in Detroit.
Life Remodeled, 
celebrating its 10th 
anniversary, has 
turned this historic 
location into a hub 
of innovation and 
a force for good, 
housing more than 
30 organizations that 
collaborate with each 
other and students and commu-

nity leaders to foster much need-
ed educational improvement, 
workforce growth and entrepre-
neurial opportunities.
Life Remodeled recently 
received a $100,000 grant from 
the Jewish Fund to create space 
for local students to come 
together. The space (Durfee’
s 
former locker rooms) 
will feature an arcade, 
tutoring and home-
work help as well as 
pop-up educational 
and social program-
ming for the K-12 
students next door. 
Some of the old lockers 
and even hair dryers 
from the girls’
 locker room have 

been repurposed into different 
features within the the space, 
which will also have four com-
mercial washing machines and 
dryers for students to use (a lack 
of access to clean clothes is a sig-
nificant contributor to the high 
Detroit truancy rates).
To mark the occasion of 
its 10th anniversary, Life 
Remodeled is hosting a free 
Virtual Celebration 7-8 p.m. 
Thursday, Dec. 3, featuring Isiah 
Thomas, Gabrielle Union, the 
Detroit Youth Choir and more. 
Register at eventbrite.com/e/
life-remodeleds-10-year-an-
niversary-celebration-tick-
ets-122414582311.
Jen Friedman has been COO 
of Life Remodeled since July. 
Her father-in-law is a Durfee 
alumnus who still feels senti-
mental about his old school. 
“This is an opportunity for 
people to support a special place 
in their lives and make it sus-
tainable, both for the future and 
for local students to enjoy now,
” 
she said.

CALLING JEWISH ALUMNI
The Jewish community has long 
held ties to Durfee. In the 1940s-
50s, the student population at 
Durfee was made up of a large 
Jewish contingent who grew up 
in the close-knit neighborhood 
surrounding the school. Though 
these former students and their 
families migrated to the suburbs 
over time, they still have a love 
for Durfee. Many of them, now 
in their 70s, 80s and 90s, still 
reside in Metro Detroit and have 
remained lifelong friends.
Winnie Krieger, who gradu-
ated in 1949, and her husband, 
Aaron, of Farmington Hills, 
met at Durfee (although they 
didn’
t “get together” until high 
school, she said). “I made won-
derful friends at Durfee, who 
are still my friends today,
” she 
said. “There were a lot of Jewish 
kids, and I think we felt at home 
there. There was a strong sense 
of togetherness. And we received 

a wonderful education — some-
thing we didn’
t always recognize 
at the time.
”
As senior citizens, Jewish 
alumni of Durfee are among the 
most vulnerable during the pan-
demic and have been isolated, 
many on lockdown/quarantine 
and alone at home with mini-
mal interactions with family or 
friends since March. To help 
ease that isolation, organizers of 
the Life Remodeled Celebration 
are planning a special “To Life, 
To Life Remodeled!” free virtual 
reunion event to bring together 
Durfee’
s Jewish alumni. It will 
be held 6-7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 
3, immediately prior to the Life 
Remodeled 10-year anniversary 
virtual event and will be hosted 
by Friedman.
Often, older people have a 
hard time getting places, and 
many were unable to attend last 
year’
s event that celebrated the 
opening of the newest Metro 
Detroit Youth Clubs (MDYC) 
named after former Sen. Carl 
Levin, former Congressman 
Sander Levin and Jim Comer, 
Detroit philanthropist and 
founder of Comer Holdings LLC 
to be housed within the DIS. 
Anyone with a phone or 
computer can attend, Friedman 
said. She encourages attendees to 
participate at “Show & Tell” with 
old photos, Durfee yearbooks 
and memorabilia. Attendees will 
also learn how the nonprofit has 
breathed “new life” into their 
alma mater and is positively 
impacting their former Detroit 
neighborhood. 
“It is an opportunity for peo-
ple to reconnect to that special 
place and reconnect with one 
another,
” Friedman said.
To attend the alumni event, 
which starts one hour before 
the celebration event, register 
at https://liferemodeled.com/
durfeealumni. Interested Durfee 
alumni can also call Brooke 
Adams at Life Remodeled at 
(313) 444-2897 or email her at 
brooke@liferemodeled.com. 

Jewish alumni are invited to reunion 
celebrating their former school.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Here’s to Durfee

Sen. Carl Levin, Winnie Krieger and Aaron Krieger at the entrance of their old 

school holding one of their old Durfee yearbooks 

IN 
THED
JEWS

DIS

JV

