36 | OCTOBER 13 • 2022 

faces&places

Jewish Family Service 
employees attended a staff 
appreciation event with 
America’s greatest pastime at 
Comerica Park on Wednesday, 
Sept. 14. 
 The event was preceded by 
a staff lunch at both the Oak 
Park and West Bloomfield 
offices and was an opportunity 
for people to connect with 
colleagues they don’t interact 
with on a regular basis. 
“People enjoyed hanging out, 
laughing, learning more about 
each other and not feeling like 
they had to do something,” 
said Yuliya Gaydayenko, chief 

program officer, older adults. 
“It was a great mental health 
day even for those of us who 
don’t know anything about 
baseball.”
Office Manager Al Brooks 
said, “
Although the Tigers lost, 
it was a win for me to spend 
time with my JFS team outside 
the office.”
CEO Perry Ohren added, 
“It’s a joy for me to work with 
such committed people at JFS. 
We each have 125+ colleagues 
who every day wake up to be 
part of a team that takes care of 
others. The Tigers could learn 
from the strong team at JFS!” 

Samantha Vine and Amy 
Newman
Perry Ohren, Emily Gordon, Yuliya 
Gaydayenko and Zach Woodby

Kerri Lanoue, Zach Woodby, Al Brooks and Stephanie Glanton

 PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF JFS

JFS Heads to the 
Ballpark

JARC Picnic in the Park took 
place outdoors the evening of 
Aug. 27 at Temple Beth El in 
Bloomfield Township, provid-
ing people with developmental 
disabilities who are served by 
JARC with the opportunity to 
play exercise ball drums with 
Drums Alive and enjoy a deli-
cious kosher dinner outside. 
The event was sponsored 
by a generous donor of JARC. 
Guests were led through dif-
ferent sensory-friendly drum-
ming techniques by a Drums 
Alive instructor, and all who 
participated learned how to 
drum along to music. 

Drums Alive helps people 
of all ages and abilities by 
combining the use of senso-
ry/motor reflexes with the 
brain-affected benefits of 
music and rhythm. Along 
with this activity, JARC guests 
enjoyed a catered kosher pic-
nic dinner of various wraps, 
chips and cookies. 
 The event was attended by 
80 people JARC serves, who 
enjoyed the high-energy yet 
sensory-friendly drumming 
opportunity and the differ-
ent options to participate or 
observe, depending upon their 
comfort level. 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JARC

JARC Picnic in
the Park

Renee, who is served 
by JARC, enjoyed the 
drumming event.

Jacob, a person 
served by JARC, had 
fun participating.

Everyone enjoyed participating 
with sensory-friendly exercise 
balls that are fitted to be drums.