northwest activity center on meyers in detroit michigan

Melvyn Rubenfire of West Bloomfield Karen Sherbin of Farmington Hills Rabbi Josh Bennett of Temple Israel Andre Peterson of Gleaners Melvyn and Diane Rubenfire, who heard the sermon, the movement began.īack To Detroit Ron Lockett, executive director and CEO of the Northwest Activity Center Lisa Corey of Birmingham Warren Crockett of Detroit Dr. “I had to re-envision the next stage of my career.”Īnd with the help of Dr. It was the rabbi’s High Holiday “A Call to Action of Social Justice” sermon that sparked the movement.Īfter 18 years working with teenagers as the youth rabbi, Bennett moved on to social action, he says.

“One of our challenges is to move slowly,” Bennett says, looking over the scene of volunteers loading shopping carts with food. The next two programs will be “Blessings in a Backpack,” which partners with Meijer to give food to students from low-income schools for the weekend and building a food pantry similar to Yad Ezra in the NWAC basement. This monthly “Mobile Pantry,” a partnership with Gleaners, is just one spoke in the wheel, says Temple Israel’s Rabbi Josh Bennett. He joins volunteers from Temple Israel, Hartford Baptist Church, Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan and several other local charitable organizations at a mobile pantry set up in the center as part of “Project Healthy Community: An Evolving Vision with Endless Opportunities” (PHC), a program that began at Temple Israel last fall. “We’ll need more carts next time,” says Warren Crockett, a volunteer from the University Commons District. On a clear, cold day in late February at the Northwest Activity Center on Meyers and Curtis in Detroit, a steady stream of people in need walk into the center’s “hub,” load bags of nutritious food into shopping carts and take them back to their cars. What started as a sermon has become a cause. Temple Israel volunteers help Northwest Detroit stay strong.

Northwest activity center on meyers in detroit michigan