OUR COMMUNITY

F

rom April 10-11, Yad Ezra 
held a drive-thru Passover 
food distribution for near-
ly 1,000 client families in its park-
ing lot. The two-day distribution 
marked the most open Yad Ezra 
has been since the beginning of 
the pandemic.
The distribution packages 
included everything one would 
need for a seder. 
“The idea is that someone 
who wasn’t able to go out and 
purchase it could get this package 
and have a seder if they wanted 
and/or enjoy kosher-for-Passover 
food for the week,
” said Daniella 
HarPaz Mechnikov, executive 
director of Yad Ezra.
One thousand Passover 
packages were prepared in total 
with about 200 packages sent to 
Hechtman Senior Apartments, 
Kadima and JARC homes and 
Jewish communities in Flint and 
Ann Arbor. About 700 packages 
were picked up in the drive-
through with just under 100 
packages delivered to those who 
are homebound. 
About 120 volunteers worked 
with Yad Ezra staff and the staff’s 
family members over the course 
of the two days to manage the 
distribution process.
Yad Ezra’s Passover drive-
through also took place in 2020 
and 2021, but with masks and an 
obvious heightened level of anxi-
ety. To Mechnikov and everyone 
involved, this year’s distribution, 
being the most open it’s been 

since the start of the pandemic, 
gave the two days a special feel-
ing.
“Seeing staff in person and 
then coming for Passover real-
ly felt for a lot of people like a 
cementing of normalcy a little bit, 
like we’re really back,
” Mechnikov 
said.
One woman, originally from 
Crimea in Eastern Europe, was 
emotional after receiving her 
Passover package. The woman 
currently has family in Kyiv, 
Ukraine. 
“She remarked that she had 
never been here before because 
she started getting food from Yad 
Ezra during COVID,
” Mechnikov 
said. “So she was moved to see 
how many volunteers participat-
ed in the distribution of food. To 
pull up and see so many people 
outside helping, that’s really 
what made her so emotional. 
She didn’t know so many people 
cared. That moved her more than 
anything.
” 
Congressman Andy Levin also 
stopped by Yad Ezra to help with 
the Passover distribution.
“Our goal was not to give any-
one a political stage, and it was 
very nice he took it like that,
” 
Mechnikov said. “He came in the 
drizzle, took his station, distrib-
uted to our clients and helped out 
with volunteers. As a member of 
our community, he acted like a 
member of our community. He 
was a good team member and a 
pleasure to have as a visitor.
” 

Yad Ezra holds Passover food 
distribution for 1,000 client families. 

A Passover 
Drive-Through

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

30 | APRIL 21 • 2022 

 ARJO PHOTOGRAPHY

Volunteers and staff distributed 700 Passover 
packages in Yad Ezra’s parking lot.

