Metro Detroit Group Helps Those Isolated During Pandemic

DETROIT — The coronavirus pandemic led to widespread isolation for many people across Michigan. But for people with special needs in the Metro Detroit region, that isolation was particularly troublesome.

That's where Friendship Circle — a nonprofit that supports individuals with special needs and those struggling with isolation, addiction and other family-related crises — and its UMatter program come in. Co-founded by Bassie Shemtov and Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the nonprofit has helped hundreds of people during the pandemic and continues to help families with children with special needs.

"Our mission is always 50/50 for our volunteers and our families that have children with special needs," Shemtov said told Patch in an interview Thursday.

Friendship Circle's UMatter program works to empower people to shatter stigmas surrounding their mental health challenges and suicide. The program works on a peer-to-peer model of teens helping their peers overcome the stigmas and other obstacles they face.

As Shemtov puts it, the peer-to-peer model works for the teens volunteering with the organization as well as the people they help.

"This is not just about helping somebody that has special needs," Shemtov said. "This is like a real win-win for our teenagers."

The group offers a bevy of programs and opportunities to help people. Friendship Circle hosts virtual and in-person programming for children with special needs, pairing them with a teen volunteer so they always have a friend.

Programs with area schools help assist teachers to provide lessons to children to prepare for independent skills, such as handling money or shopping for essential items.

Through its programs and peer-to-peer model, Friendship Circle has helped countless people since its conception, but that help became increasingly significant during the pandemic.

When Michigan first began closing parts of its economic sector and issuing coronavirus restrictions in early 2020, many outlets for people with special needs were quickly cut off, leading to feelings of isolation and depression.

Michigan wasn't alone with this issue. According to Mental Health America, 9.7 percent of young people in the U.S. have severe major depression, compared to 9.2 percent in last year’s dataset. The rate was highest among youth who identify as more than one race, at 12.4 percent.

Helping people while staying socially distanced wasn't easy, but Friendship Circle found a way with its UMatter program. Shemtov said it took a lot of adapting, and with the help of the organization's volunteers, those adjustments were made quickly.

"Our staff have just done an incredible job," Shemtov said. "So, we just really zoomed on to them. We just switched everything up. ... This is a very dangerous time for them, sitting at home on our computers all day, being even more isolated if they already have been isolated."

Shemtov said having people routinely helped by Friendship Circle isolated from others was devastating. In order to continue helping where they could, volunteers would drop off boxes of supplies and have hangout groups while masked outside when the weather was nice.

"Just constantly finding ways to connect with them, so that they know that they're not alone," Shemtov said of what UMatter has done during the pandemic. "And we're here, and if they need the help, which obviously many people did, reach out and we would be there."

With some COVID-19 restrictions being eased in Michigan in recent weeks, in-person aspects of Friendship Circle are returning. In October, the group purchased Dakota Bread with the hope of providing expanded food and work options for people with special needs.

Soul Cafe opened three weeks ago and is located in Friendship Circle’s Farber Soul Center, 5586 Drake Road, in West Bloomfield.

"It's more of a destination kind of Cafe but it's beautiful and the energy and the environment is very special," Shemtov said.

More information on how to volunteer with or seek help from Friendship Circle of Michigan can be found online here.