The two-day distribution marked the most open Yad Ezra has been since the beginning of the pandemic.
From April 10-11, Yad Ezra held a drive-thru Passover food distribution for nearly 1,000 client families in its parking lot. The two-day distribution marked the most open Yad Ezra has been since the beginning of the pandemic.
The distribution packages included everything one would need for a seder.
“The idea is that someone who wasn’t able to go out and purchase it could get this package and have a seder if they wanted and/or enjoy kosher-for-Passover food for the week,” said Daniella HarPaz Mechnikov, executive director of Yad Ezra.
One thousand Passover packages were prepared in total with about 200 packages sent to Hechtman Senior Apartments, Kadima and JARC homes and Jewish communities in Flint and Ann Arbor. About 700 packages were picked up in the drive-through with just under 100 packages delivered to those who are homebound.
About 120 volunteers worked with Yad Ezra staff and the staff’s family members over the course of the two days to manage the distribution process.
Yad Ezra’s Passover drive-through also took place in 2020 and 2021, but with masks and an obvious heightened level of anxiety. To Mechnikov and everyone involved, this year’s distribution, being the most open it’s been since the start of the pandemic, gave the two days a special feeling.
“Seeing staff in person and then coming for Passover really felt for a lot of people like a cementing of normalcy a little bit, like we’re really back,” Mechnikov said.
One woman, originally from Crimea in Eastern Europe, was emotional after receiving her Passover package. The woman currently has family in Kyiv, Ukraine.
“She remarked that she had never been here before because she started getting food from Yad Ezra during COVID,” Mechnikov said. “So she was moved to see how many volunteers participated in the distribution of food. To pull up and see so many people outside helping, that’s really what made her so emotional. She didn’t know so many people cared. That moved her more than anything.”
Congressman Andy Levin also stopped by Yad Ezra to help with the Passover distribution.
“Our goal was not to give anyone a political stage, and it was very nice he took it like that,” Mechnikov said. “He came in the drizzle, took his station, distributed to our clients and helped out with volunteers. As a member of our community, he acted like a member of our community. He was a good team member and a pleasure to have as a visitor.”
Milt Neuman, a Yad Ezra board member and volunteer, was grateful to be able to assist in any way he could.
“It means everything. You realize how much you have and how grateful you should be that you’re able to sustain yourself, but in the meantime, you’re able to give back to the community and it’s a wonderful mitzvah to do,” Neuman said.
Saree Hantler, who has been volunteering with Yad Ezra since 2009, was happy to see a return to some type of normalcy.
“I’m seeing a lot of the volunteers I haven’t seen in a long time,” Hantler said. “It’s nice to see the faces. It’s a little more fulfilling that way. You can see the need. The Jewish community always stands by its own.”
“To see our clients in person again, to see people you haven’t seen in two years, and they get to come in and you get to interact with them, there’s nothing like it,” said David Jaffee, Yad Ezra’s director of operations.
“I’ve always felt that everybody should be able to have a seder if they want a seder. To be able to provide the food to have that is just very rewarding.”
