22 | JANUARY 19 • 2023

OUR COMMUNITY

D

eb Ford of Livonia,
a member of Temple
Kol Ami in West
Bloomfield, is this week’s
Volunteer of the Week.
A former kindergarten
teacher, Ford became
an activities director
at an assisted
living center after
retirement and
remained working
with the senior
population until she
retired in 2020.
Ford’s passion for
the elderly began
with visiting local assisted
living centers with her three
dogs and husband, Roger, in
1988. She has volunteered as
a Friendly Visitor for Jewish
Family Service and Jewish
Senior Life.
She has delivered food
to Yad Ezra clients for the
last four years, including
passing out Passover parcels
and delivering turkeys for
Thanksgiving. She said
she especially liked the
opportunity to chat with
the recipients, as during
the height of the pandemic,
she was the only in-person
contact many had.
Ford also serves on
additional Temple Kol Ami
(TKA) committees and the
Relay for Life for Breast
Cancer each summer, as well
as the Jewish Food Festival,
South Oakland Shelter food

preparation for a week each
year and TKA Mitzvah Day.
Ford currently works
with the TKA Caring
Community to set up a Meal
Train for those in need of
extra support during
various challenges
in their lives. She
also volunteers by
serving dinner a few
times a year with
TKA volunteers with
Circles in Ann Arbor,
an agency helping
families recovering
from poverty due to
challenges in their lives.
In 2020, she became
volunteer coordinator for
a pop-up food pantry at
Temple Kol Ami. She runs
a weekly drive-up pantry,
coordinating and recruiting
18 volunteers as well as
organizing the sign-up list
for the 80 families who visit
the pantry.
Ford says she gets great
satisfaction from greeting
and talking to every car
that comes through the
TKA parking lot. She knows
everyone’s name and calls
them if they don’t come to
make sure they are OK. The
group of volunteers at the
pantry are well aware that
the reason the lineup of cars
is slow is because Ford and
the neighbors need to catch
up on how their week has
been.

TKA’s Deb Ford lends a hand to
many programs and projects.

A Volunteering
Dynamo

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

VOLUNTEER OF THE WEEK

Deb Ford

TOP: Deb Ford, Steve Merritt and Linda Kahn Gale at the Circles
Dinner. ABOVE: Temple Kol Ami pantry volunteers Yefim Rakiter, Deb
Ford and Margery Jablin.