20 | SEPTEMBER 12 • 2024 
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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

