22 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 

A

holiday vacation taken 
by a West Bloomfield 
family in Puerto 
Vallarta, Mexico, turned into a 
vehicle to help those in need.
Ten-year-old Hillel student 
Emeri Charlip, along with her 
two friends, Oliver and Alice 
Hybl, raised more than $400 
for the Vallarta Food Bank by 
collecting, decorating and selling 
rocks. 
It began when the kids decid-
ed to do an art project when 
they were on the beach one day, 
and Jill Sherman-Marx, Emeri’s 
mother, asked if they were inter-
ested in making it into a fund-
raiser to benefit someone. The 
kids were thrilled at the idea. 
That morning, Sherman-Marx 
gathered art supplies to decorate 
the rocks with and a table for 

them to sell the rocks. 
“They got busy — boy, did 
they get busy,
” Sherman-Marx 
said. “They took it very serious-
ly.
” 
Sherman-Marx was familiar 
with the Vallarta Food Bank 
after having traveled to Puerto 
Vallarta for more than 20 years. 
She knows how crucial it’s been 
during the pandemic.
“It was so incredibly touching 
to me how one man started 
this operation in Vallarta and, 
at the height of the pandemic, 
they were feeding a ridiculous 
amount of people, like 800 peo-
ple. It was crazy,
” she said. 
The rocks were sold on a 
“give-what-you-can” basis. 
The largest single donation, 
Sherman-Marx recalls, was 
between 500 and 1,000 pesos, 

about $25 to $50.
“When I put the post on 
Facebook, I tagged the food 
bank in it and there were com-
ments from people who bought 
them and they posted a picture 
of their rock, which was awe-
some and very sweet,
” Sherman-
Marx said.
At the end of the fundraising, 
Emeri and her family delivered 
the money and were fortunate to 
receive a tour of the food bank 
operation. 
“The woman who runs 
the food bank was in tears,
” 
Sherman-Marx said. “For Emeri, 
I think it was really eye-opening. 
As we were leaving, we saw peo-
ple lining up for the afternoon 
meal. For her to visualize and 
see people lining up … it was 
just really heartwarming.
“My husband, Josh, and I 
teach her how fortunate we are. 
We get to go on vacation and do 
this stuff, and these people don’t 
even have food. It’s good for her 
to see and experience it.
”
Sherman-Marx believes this 
will be a yearly tradition, and 
Emeri agrees.
“My favorite part was seeing 

the people smile as they took a 
rock and looked at the inspira-
tional message,
” Emeri said. “My 
favorite rock had a rainbow and 
it said ‘love’ on the front and 
‘never change who you are’ on 
the back.
“It made me feel really good, 
realizing we’re doing something 
that will help other people in 
need that don’t have food,
” 
Emeri added. “I would love 
doing it again.
” 
Seeing her daughter and 
friends jump at the chance to 
help others was uplifting to 
Sherman-Marx.
“It lets me know I’m doing 
something right. To see your 
child help somebody else is 
probably one of the most beauti-
ful things a parent can do, and to 
do something that’s completely 
selfless … Josh and I both were 
just blown away,
” she said.
Seeing her daughter help 
people in need means even that 
much more as a Jew.
“The first thing I said is this is 
tikkun olam, repairing the world. 
Helping one person at a time. 
That’s where it starts, and it just 
gets bigger from there.
” 

OUR COMMUNITY

Hillel student and friends decorated 
rocks to raise money for food bank 
while on vacation. 

Hillel student and friends decorated 

A Helping 
Holiday

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF JILL SHERMAN-MARX

LEFT: Oliver and Alice Hybl and Emeri Charlip are proud of the rocks 
they collected, designed and decorated. BOTTOM: Emeri Charlip 
delivered the money to the food bank and was given a tour.

