20 | SEPTEMBER 12 • 2024 J N Secrets Women to Work program. Schlesinger-Wagner gives back to the community by sponsoring programs to help homeless children, shelters, women seeking to reinvent their working lives, medical research, and communities providing housing, food and health services. “People ask me when I am going to retire and I say never,” Schlesinger-Wagner, 76, said. “My business allows me to give so much and make people happy. Friends tell me that I sprinkle kindness to people who really need it. And if that is how people know me, then I have done a great thing with my life.” The 133-year-old organization will bestow the Josephine S. Weiner Community Service Award to Bookstock. Currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, the annual book sale collects and then sells thousands of gently used books to the public and donates the millions in sales to educational and literacy programs in Metro Detroit. After a brief hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, Bookstock not only survived but came roaring back thanks to the strategic financial planning set in motion years before by putting a portion of their earnings into a reserve fund, according to Bookstock co-founder and longtime Jewish community volunteer and leader Roz Blanck. Blanck, who has also been president of Federation’s Women’s Philanthropy Department, said Bookstock’s vibrancy and success can be attributed to the hundreds of volunteers from a multitude of nonprofit organizations who pull together to make it an annual event for book lovers. Blanck said NCJW, since Bookstock’s beginning, has played a great role in its success and has benefited from earnings of the sale. Bookstock prepares for its upcoming sale from April 27 to May 4, 2025, and collections of books will begin in October. Blanck expressed gratitude for the NCJW recognition. “It shows that collaboration and community is important,” she said. “Detroit inside and outside the Jewish community is filled with volunteers who love to help each other. It is an honor to have Bookstock acknowledged this way.” continued from page 18 OUR COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT Attendees can browse various vendors at the boutique. DETAILS Tickets for the “Women of Vision” event, Thursday, Sept. 26, at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, are available at several donation levels, starting at $54. Registration is from 9:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m.; boutiques are open from 9:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. and are open to the public; meet-and-greet with Rebekah Gregory, for patrons, is from 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m.; 11:45 a.m.-1.15 p.m. speaker and awards presentation; 1:15 p.m. will be lunch, door prizes and a 50/50 raffle. For more information on the program, go to www. ncjwmi.org. After a broad national search, Hillel Day School has been selected to participate in the pilot cohort of a new initiative, the Ronald S. Lauder Impact Initiative (LII), working to increase Jewish day school enrollment in North America. LII’s mission is to transform Jewish communities with day schools at the center; by identifying the barriers to enrollment and implementing scalable solutions. LII seeks to grow day school enrollment and overall Jewish family engagement across North America. Building on his success in establishing Jewish day schools as vibrant hubs for Jewish life in Europe, Ronald S. Lauder turned to the American market in 2022 and established LII with similar objec- tives. LII will work with four communi- ties — Detroit, Boca Raton, Boston and Washington, D.C. — during the three- year pilot program. A local steering committee consisting of leaders from across Detroit’s Jewish ecosystem, including parents, alumni, Federation and communal representa- tives, and others will work with various consultants to conduct research, formu- late and implement bold strategies, pilot innovative programs, and study a range of initiatives to enhance the community and grow day school enrollment. Head of School Dr. Darin S. Katz says, “Hillel is looking forward to work- ing together with the other exemplary day schools across the country to use market research and donor engagement toward the long-term goal of increasing enrollment at Hillel. It is an honor to have been selected to participate.” Casey Ginsberg has been hired as Detroit’s LII Transformation Manager. She will work closely with Detroit’s Steering Committee, the LII Strategic Consultant Beth Cousens, and commu- nity partners and stakeholders to create a collaborative environment working toward robust and vibrant engagement in Detroit Jewish day school education. LII and Hillel are extremely grateful to the Jewish Federation of Detroit and the William Davidson Foundation, which have partnered with them on this exciting initiative. Hillel Day School To Be Part of Lauder Impact Initiative