48 | NOVEMBER 4 • 2021
faces&places
A few technical glitches
couldn’t stop the Reach for
Hope Benefit from being a
huge success. On Oct. 21,
A Single Soul, Black Family
Development and L!FELeaders
Inc. hosted the event, featuring
a table reading of the play
Right Before I Go, by Stan
Zimmerman and starring Hill
Harper. Detroit native Lily
Tomlin sent a video message.
The event, held at Cass Tech
High School and emceed by
Fox 2 personality Lee Thomas,
raised funds to provide free
suicide prevention training
in Detroit, a passion of Rabbi
Daniel Syme, rabbi emeritus
at Temple Beth El, who shared
with attendees how he lost his
brother, Michael, to suicide
more than 40 years ago.
Among the many attendees
was Donna Rene’e Harris,
who traveled by bus from
Oklahoma to see the table
reading of the play written
by Stan Zimmerman (Gilmore
Girls, Roseanne, The Golden Girls)
which brings to life the last
words of those lost to suicide,
including the heartsick, the
bullied, survivors of war, the
mentally ill and the achingly
lonely, which aims to provide
a sense of understanding and
hope for the living.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GLENN TRIEST
Reach for Hope
Stan Zimmerman, Hill Harper, Rabbi Daniel Syme, Amy Nederlander,
Kenyatta Stephens, Walter Stephens.
Francie Mutual, Stan Zimmerman, Karen Cantor.
Dr. Jill Syme, Rabbi Daniel Syme, Elder Cameron Bracefull and Jane Smitt.
Donna Rene’e Harris and Rabbi Daniel Syme.
Filmmaker Steve Palackdharry, filmmaker Dr. Sherry Rogers and Stan
Zimmerman.
Hill Harper, Amy Nederlander, Kenyatta Stephens, Walter Stephens