12 | SEPTEMBER 9 • 2021
W
ith Sweet & Savory, Metro
Detroit’s Jewish community
can send food packages
to loved ones. Whether to celebrate a
joyous occasion or to simply show some
love in a time of need, one of the newest
programs from Partners Detroit aims to
provide home-cooked meals on delivery.
Launched in May of this year, Sweet
& Savory is a volunteer-based kindness
program where local Jewish community
members can donate their time to
cooking soups and baking cakes, which
are later packaged with cards and
delivered to homes. People can apply
on Partners Detroit’s website to either
receive a food package or request one to
be sent out.
“It’s an opportunity for people to give
back,” says Shaindel Fink of Partners
Detroit, “and a way to reinforce a sense
of community.”
As the brainchild of Chef Debra
Walter, who has been involved with
Partners Detroit for six years, Sweet &
Savory was created in honor of her father
Seymour Kleiman, who passed away
in September 2020. “She wanted to do
something in his memory,” Fink explains.
“She is very passionate about cooking, so
she came up with Sweet & Savory.”
FROM OUR KITCHEN TO YOURS
In collaboration with Partners Detroit
and Partners in Care, the organization’s
community kindness division, the
program was built out and launched to
the Metro Detroit Jewish community.
Sweet & Savory’s slogan of “from our
kitchen to yours” relates back to the
idea of the program, which involves
volunteers getting together to cook
at an event space at Platform 18,
Partners Detroit’s new event space and
community center in Royal Oak.
There, volunteers create the sweet
and savory food packages (soup and a
cake), which are then delivered by other
volunteers. “People can apply online for a
free package,” Fink says. “Every package
is delivered in a beautiful insulated bag
with the logo on it.”
Additionally, recipients of a Sweet &
Savory food package also receive a list
of ingredients for the meals they receive,
so they can recreate them at home. A
card is also added to the package that
can send messages for speedy recoveries,
thinking of you or to simply say mazel
tov. Each card is signed: “Made with
love, from our kitchen to yours — Your
Partners Detroit Family.”
While Partners Detroit, a Jewish-faith
community organization that curates
educational programs and service
projects, sponsors program operations,
Fink says volunteers are the ones who
keep the wheels turning. “Women give
up their time to cook and bake and
deliver,” she says. “It’s really been such a
fantastic program that everyone feels so
amazing about.”
SENDING KIND GESTURES
Fink says both volunteers and recipients
of Sweet & Savory packages are moved
by the gesture, which has already lifted
spirits of Jewish Metro Detroiters
going through challenging times. One
woman who participated in Partners
Detroit programming, for example, was
severely ill in the hospital, so she and
her husband were sent a Sweet & Savory
package.
Though the woman passed away
that evening before the package was
Sheri Aahron-Miller, Debra Walter and
Shaindel Fink cooking at Platform 18 for the
Sweet & Savory program.
With homemade soup and a cake, Sweet &
Savory delivers care packages to doorsteps.
Delivered
with Kindness
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
PHOTOS FROM PARTNERS DETROIT
A Sweet & Savory delivery package.
OUR COMMUNITY