Friendship Circle to Build $2M Facility in Michigan
The Friendship Circle of West Bloomfield, Michigan, a support center for children and young adults with special needs, will expand soon, thanks to a $2.1 million donation for a new cafe and art studio.
The organization acquired a portion of a nearby shopping center on Drake Road, south of Walnut Lake Road and will start construction on the space in the next few months. Directors plan to have the project complete by early 2015.
The cafe-art studio mashup will be named The Farber Soul Center, taking on the name of those who recently donated $2.1 million — the William and Audrey Farber Foundation — to the program. The project also needs an additional $500,000.
Friendship Circle administrators plan to extend the center’s programming with culinary, digital and traditional arts and on-the-job training for those with special needs.
Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Director of Friendship Circle, said he’s excited the project is coming together in providing this service to local families, as the center has expanded as its students grow.
“The Farber Soul Center is our next step in continuing to serve our children with special needs who are, or will eventually become, adults looking to gain independence and job-skills in our community,” Shemtov said.
The cafe will feature a kosher restaurant that will also teach the existing Lessons for Life program used by over 200 schools in the metro Detroit area.
The studio portion of the center will serve as an art studio, and Friendship Circle will submit the artists’ work to be shown in galleries, entered in contests and sold to commercial and residential customers.
Photography, video, 3-D printing and animation will also be available, added administrators, as well as classes in painting, ceramic weaving, jewelry making, printmaking and folk art.
Nanci Farber, the Farbers’ daughter-in-law, said her family is grateful to be a part of the journey.
“The added bonus of this new facility is that it allows Friendship Circle another benefit to their families with children who have special needs that currently are enrolled in their existing programming,” she said. “In the evenings, once the Farber Soul Center closes, these children with special needs and their teen volunteers will be able to delve into the arts and find their passions.”
