Volunteers of different faiths come together in Detroit to deliver

Volunteers of all religious faiths spread across southwest Detroit on Christmas morning to deliver joy and bags bursting with presents to the doorsteps of nearly 400 families.

The presents, which included food gift cards as well as toys, came courtesy of Jimmy’s Kids, a nonprofit that has done Christmas Day giving in the city since the 1980s.

A family in southwest Detroit received delivery of a Jimmy's Kids presents package from David Kurzmann and his children, pictured, Sari, age 8, and Micah, age 6. — A family in southwest Detroit received delivery of a Jimmy’s Kids presents package from David Kurzmann and his children, pictured, Sari, age 8, and Micah, age 6.

And the deliveries were handled by scores of volunteers from the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Christian communities.

For the Jewish community, it was part of their annual Mitzvah Day, which began in 1996 and is about helping numerous charities and nonprofits to celebrate Christmas. The Jimmy’s Kids deliveries were one of 17 volunteer sites this year for Mitzvah Day, which also provided help for Meals on Wheels and at homeless shelters and senior homes.

Mitzvah is a word for good deed in Hebrew.

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Giant bags containing presents for Jimmy's Kids recipients were organized and loaded into volunteers' vehicles at a parking lot outside St. Stephen Lutheran Church in southwest Detroit. — Giant bags containing presents for Jimmy’s Kids recipients were organized and loaded into volunteers’ vehicles at a parking lot outside St. Stephen Lutheran Church in southwest Detroit.

“Mitzvah Day is always on Christmas and it’s a chance for the Jewish faith community and other faith communities who aren’t celebrating Christmas, per say, to be able to give back and let people who would otherwise have to work have the day off,” said Nancy Wellber Barr, chair of the community relations committee at the Jewish Federation of Detroit.

Other Jimmy’s Kids volunteers came as part of the “Days of Ihsan” campaign, organized by the Michigan Muslim Community Council and also open to members of different faiths.

“The Days of Ihsan campaign is about promoting the best of actions, or ‘ihsan,’ ” Muzammil Ahmed, the council’s chair emeritus, said in the lead up to the event. “During the holiday season, we partner with our friends of all faiths to help local struggling families.”

The morning began outside St. Stephen Lutheran Church in southwest Detroit, where the giant bags of presents were loaded into volunteers’ vehicles for delivery trips. Each recipient family was to receive its own unique assortment of gifts, based on the age of their children.

Jim Truman started Jimmy's Kids in the 1980s. — Jim Truman started Jimmy’s Kids in the 1980s.

“People come because they feel like this is what the Christmas spirit should be,” said Jim Truman, who started the charity. “It’s not the gifts you’re getting — it’s the gifts you’re giving.”

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Among the volunteers were David Kurzmann, 38, of West Bloomfield, and two of his children, Sari, age 8, and Micah, who is 6.

“Coming out today, bringing my 8 year-old and 6 year-old, I’m seeing images in my mind of the ’90s and being here as a kid myself and delivering gifts,” he said, “so it’s really generation to generation, which is the spirit of the Jewish community.”

“Underpinning the event are the values themselves — giving back, collective responsibility — not just to ourselves, but to the greater Detroit community,” Kurzmann added. “I’m trying to instill the values in them that today is not a day off for us.”

While waiting in the church parking lot to load up his vehicle with packages, Kurzmann spotted some friends in line from the Muslim and Hindu communities.

“This is also a chance to break through some of these tough times and the things that divide people, by coming together to help those in need,” he said.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Volunteers of different faiths come together to deliver gifts

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