APRIL 1 • 2021 | 23

His mother used to volunteer at 
Berkley Public Library; in tribute to her, 
Greenwald recently participated in a 
Zoom class for the same library, demon-
strating how to make his famous mac 
and cheese. 
Elwin & Co: (248) 547-8846.

THE SUIT DEPOT
The Suit Depot in Oak Park was likewise 
hard-hit when everything closed last 
March; people had no reason to buy new 
clothes, especially not suits.
Owner Marty Babayov said, “For more 
than four months we were completely 
closed while our usual overhead expens-
es continued to pile up. Industry-wide, 
men’s suit sales dropped by more than 
80%. Now that we’ve reopened, we’re 
doing much better than most in this 
industry. Many had to shut their doors 
permanently.”
Last summer, to raise awareness 

of struggling local small businesses, 
Babayov manufactured and distributed 
thousands of reusable cloth masks with 
the hashtag #MichiganStrong. 

The Suit Depot usually hosts an annual 
coat drive. This year, Babayov instead 
reached out to Heart to Hart Detroit 
(H2HD), an organization which supports 
the homeless, and asked what items were 
most needed. The answer: warm socks. 
Babayov immediately called a supplier 
and ordered 1,000 pairs of warm, top-of-
the-line diabetic socks and donated them 
to H2HD.
Babayov said, “This isn’t just about 
socks. It’s our obligation to show up for 
our local charities, especially in these 
trying times. This is about giving back, 
helping out wherever we can and show-
ing up for each other.” 
The Suit Depot: (248) 200-7484.

MI SHE-BEI-ROCK
Betsy Besl has a few small businesses 
out of her home in Farmington Hills, 
including Mi She-Bei-ROCK, a play on 
the words “Mi Sheberach,” the prayer 
for healing. Since 2013, Besl has been 
decorating rocks with different Jewish 
symbols: the Star of David, chai and the 
chamzah hand. People started requesting 
hearts and inspirational quotes, and now 
Besl has a wide variety of meaningful 
stones that people can sift through before 
purchasing the one that speaks to them.
“Some people keep it for themselves, 
some give it to friends or family who are 
sick. It’s like a tangible prayer that you’re 
holding in your hand,” Besl explained. 

When the pandemic hit, Besl invited 
anyone who had a friend or relative in 
the medical field to help themselves to a 
“healing rock” free of charge. “I wanted 
to send a little hope to the medical work-
ers, let them know we’re wishing them 
well and hoping they stay healthy,” Besl 
said. 
Besl, who taught at Temple Israel for 
18 years before she became sick with 
cancer, also runs the Funky Craft Studio 
for kids out of her house, but the pan-
demic put a stop to that as well. Instead, 
she began offering creative activities to 
families, free of charge. Most fun was her 
Monster Shoe Contest — families were 
invited to decorate shoes to look like 
monsters and she promptly arranged the 
entries into an online monster shoe show 
gallery.
“I just wanted to keep families engaged 
and connected to each other, help build 

Elwin Greenwald, 
owner of Elwin & Co.

Betsy 
Besl

“THIS IS ABOUT GIVING 
BACK, HELPING OUT 
WHEREVER WE CAN.”

— THE SUIT DEPOT’S MARTY BABAYOV

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