Family Life

Congregation Shaarey Zedek will be hosting a program for families with young children who do not already belong to a synagogue on February 7. The program, “A Taste of Judaism – Family Style,” is designed for families with children up to age six years old, where at least one parent is Jewish.

In the past, our congregation has offered a three-week adult “Taste of Judaism” course, and each year I provide an adult course in Introduction to Judaism, but this is the first time we are offering this family-style program.

Image: Rainbow flags on East Lansing homes

Winter Glow, where you can get granola, honey, pickles, and see your friends, two- and four-legged.

Next Monday, November 24, from 6:00-8:45 pm at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center there will be a “sneak preview” screening of “Are We Crazy about Our Kids?”—one episode in an upcoming new Public Broadcasting System (PBS) series—for those who register by November 19 to attend this special Hannah screening.

The City is selectively notifying some East Lansing residents of an investigation at Hannah Community Center related to a mishap involving a mercury spill. An email message has gone out from the City addressed to “East Lansing Hannah Community Center Visitors.” The letter advises recipients that a vacuum hose that had previously been wrongly used to clean up a mercury spill at the water treatment plant was then also wrongly used at Hannah Community Center.

When Nora Thompson (shown above) took over the daycare at the Bailey Community Center in July of 2013, she found significant problems with the way the program was being run. She told me in an email interview, “I quickly determined the staffing was not at state mandated levels, there were inadequate materials in the classrooms, and significant building issues that needed to be remedied.”

The major reason given by the City Manager for the planned closure of the Bailey daycare is budgetary. Now a finance expert who is also a resident of Bailey has proposed to City Council an alternative budget that could, she says, keep the daycare running.

The Steam Railroading Institute (SRI) of Owosso is offering a unique and relaxing way to see the fall colors of the Lower Peninsula: an all-day train tour. The SRI will be hosting a series of trips: October 4, round-trip from Cadillac to Boyne Fall; October 11, round-trip from Petoskey to Fife Lake; and October 18, round-trip from Mount Pleasant to Cadillac. The series’ migration south over October ensures great colors on each tour.

The possible closing of the daycare program at Bailey Community Center will be discussed tonight at City Council's work session, and tensions are expected to be high. Many members of the Bailey neighborhood have been strongly opposed to the possible closing, partly out of fear that the move is a step towards the City closing and possibly selling off the Community Center building altogether.

Southeast Marble Little Free Library creator Jessica Coates, is a doer of projects, and a maker of things. When she started seeing miniature “free libraries” on Pinterest and around town, she decided to make one herself. “I think we have a great neighborhood,” said Coates, “and I just thought it would be a really good addition and would provide the children and adults in our neighborhood with a place to drop and pick up books, to recycle and reuse them.”

In a recent meeting with a group of concerned citizens, City Manager George Lahanas revealed he is planning on September 23 to ask City Council to close the daycare center at Bailey Community Center. Bailey residents fear that the ultimate endpoint of this process may be closure of the Bailey Community Center as well as possible sale of the Bailey school building. The motivation for the closing is primarily budgetary.