MARCH 3 • 2022 | 13

Unger says, adding that peo-
ple could even meet up at 
kid-friendly destinations. 
“You have to have a form of 
community to be able to do 
all that.” 
A Zoom baking event for 
grandparents and grandkids 
took place Feb. 27, where the 
pairs made rugelach together 
online. In addition to a grow-
ing roster of grandparent/
grandkid events, JGrand is 
also gearing up to offer educa-
tional events for grandparents 
on everything from commu-
nication strategies and becom-
ing first-time grandparents, to 
nurturing and honoring one-
self as a modern grandparent 
and more. 
“We are plan-
ning some things 
and trying to map 
out the future,” 
says Lori Fidler, 
coordinator of the 
JGrand program 
and grandmother 
of four. “We are bringing in 

some experts in all different 
fields, and are open to hearing 
additional topics and events. 
We want input from grand-
parents in the community.” 
The program comes out 
of an idea Judy 
Loebl, the JCC’s 
chief program 
officer, brought 
to Detroit after 
hearing of a sim-
ilar program in 
Denver, where her 
daughter lived when Loebl’s 
first granddaughter was born. 
“I see the program as a way 
for grandparents and grand-
children to connect in person 
and online,” Loebl says. It 
also promotes shalom bayit, 
peace in the home, by helping 
grandparents understand their 
children’s perspectives and 
recent shifts in child-rearing. 
That’s especially relevant 
knowledge in today’s fami-
ly landscape as, nationally, 
about a third of grandparents 
provide daytime childcare, 

overnight childcare or trans-
portation for their grandkids, 
according to a 2019 national 
study of Jewish grandparents. 
The same study found, despite 
largely positive feelings about 
grandparenting, “nearly a 
third report that their ideas 
about child-rearing conflict 
with those of their adult 
children, and one-in-10 find 
grandparenting to be a gener-
ally stressful experience.”

GRANDPARENTS’ NEEDS
In preparation for offering 
regular grandparent program-
ming, the JCC ran a number 
of focus groups, where they 
discovered grandparents 
are increasingly interested 
in resources that help them 
explore and nav-
igate their roles 
as grandparents, 
says Mikki Frank, 
JFamily senior 
director. A JCC 
survey of interest 
in such a program 
drew 75 responses in just 24 
hours and led to connections 
with more than 150 area 
grandparents for coffee, phone 
calls, grandkid play dates and 
introductory “Grand Bag” 
deliveries. 
“The style of grandpar-
enting has radically changed 
over the past 20 years,” Frank 
explains. “Grandparents have 
become significantly more 
involved in their grandchil-
dren’s lives. Many grandpar-
ents are dealing with remote 
grandparenting and many 
grandparents are providing 
childcare in various ways. 
Grandparents are younger, 
they’re active, they want to 
be active — they want to be 
engaged with their grandchil-
dren.” 
To facilitate the JGrand 
program, the JCC hired 
grandparents who wanted to 
build relationships with other 
families in the community.

They also started a private 
Facebook group, “Jewish 
Grandparents by JFamily 
Detroit” and started spreading 
the word. JGrand held a soft 
launch in November with a 
grandparent/grandkid magic 
show at the JCC, then brought 
on Fidler, a seasoned early 
childhood/community devel-
opment executive. 

A GRANDPARENT 
COHORT
Grandparents straddle the line 
as they seek to both support 
their children and enrich their 
grandchildren, bringing their 
own ideas while respecting the 
way their grandchildren are 
being raised, Fidler explains. 
And this new program will 
provide them with informa-
tion, activities and a cohort.
 “If you need an idea 
because you’re stuck inside, 
someone else might have done 
something that was fun,” she 
explains. “Or get together — 
same-age grandchildren can 
start building relationships, 
and the grandparents can 
make relationships with other 
grandparents.” 
Susie and Norm Pappas 
of Bloomfield Hills have 
helped the program get off the 
ground by providing financial 
support. JGrand is also sup-
ported by the foundations that 
support PJ Library Detroit: 
the H.W. Kaufman Family 
Support Foundation, the A. 
Alfred Taubman Foundation 
and the Max M. and Marjorie 
S. Fisher Foundation. 
“I feel very passionate 
about the program,” says Susie 
Pappas, a grandmother of six 
who has been 
in conversations 
about JGrand 
since early on. 
“Grandparents are 
always looking 
for activities they 
can do with their 

Uniting Generations

Judy Loebl

Mikki Frank

Lori Fidler

Susie 
Pappas

continued on page 14

Ken Korotkin and 
grandson Davis

COURTESY EMILY KOROTKIN

