OUR COMMUNITY

D

anielle “DeeDee” 
Lefkowitz, 9, of Southfield 
was nominated as 
Volunteer of the Week for her suc-
cessful bake sale to raise money 
to support Chai Lifeline, a New-
York-based organization that helps 
children and families coping with 
cancer and other serious illnesses.
This summer, DeeDee has been 
enjoying her time at Camp Ganeinu 
in Farmington Hills, a Jewish day 
camp where they teach campers 
about giving back through fundrais-
ing efforts to charities and nonprofits 
like Chai Lifeline. 
“DeeDee came home and asked 
me how she could help raise money 
for Chai Lifeline,
” explained Rachel 
Lefkowitz, DeeDee’s mom.
Both DeeDee and her mom began 
to brainstorm, and DeeDee came up 
with the idea of a bake sale. 
“I thought the best way to make 
a lot of money is to make Shabbos 
desserts,” DeeDee said.
DeeDee then picked out four 
types of desserts she wanted to bake 
for Shabbos: chocolate brownies, 
Rice Krispies treats, fingertip cake 
and chocolate chip cookies.
“We prepped in advanced on a 
Wednesday night and what’s amaz-
ing is that this was just one week of 
prepping and one Shabbos,” Rachel 
said. 
“It was fun to make everything, 
and it made me feel good,” DeeDee 
added. 
DeeDee baked all the goodies 
with her mom and let people at 
her synagogue, Young Israel of 
Southfield, know she would be 
selling baked goods to raise money 

for Chai Lifeline. After prepping all 
the desserts, they packaged them in 
containers with stickers that said, 
“Thank you for supporting Chai 
Lifeline! Love, DeeDee.
” 
In just one day, DeeDee raised 
$440 from her bake sale. 
“People said they loved my cook-
ies!” DeeDee said with a big smile 
across her face.
“I am so proud of DeeDee for 
initiating this wonderful fundraiser 
for Chai Lifeline,” Rachel said. “Her 
authentic passion to help others is 
contagious, and I feel so blessed 
that she let me be a part of it.” 
Since the bake sale, people have 
been asking if DeeDee is going to 
do another one. 
“We would do it again; in terms 
of how often, we still have to figure 
that out. But we are amazed of the 
turnout we had for doing this for 
the first time,” Rachel said. 

If you would like to nominate someone to be 

the next volunteer of the week, send a nom-

ination with a short paragraph telling us why 

to rsweet@thejewishnews.com.

Meet Danielle ‘DeeDee’ Lefkowitz, 
who’s spreading hope with baked goods.

Shabbos Desserts 
for Chai Lifeline 

RACHEL SWEET ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

22 | AUGUST 11 • 2022 

VOLUNTEER OF THE WEEK: 

TOP: DeeDee in the kitchen baking Shabbos desserts.
LEFT: DeeDee is proud of the desserts she made, all pack-
aged and ready to be sold.

DeeDee’s Shabbos desserts

COURTESY OF RACHEL LEFKOWITZ

