A gift to enhance the community that embraced them

The Eides family, left to right, Alex, Mira, Susan and Michael. /Eides Family

The Eides family has a special feeling for the Providence Jewish community. After all, this is the community that welcomed Mira and Alex and their children with open arms in the early 1970s, when they came here from the former Soviet Union, among the earliest families to move to Rhode Island during that period of emigration.

Now, the family is giving back with a gift to the Jewish Alliance’s Dwares JCC. And in honor of their gift, the J-Space after-school program will now be called the Eides Family J-Space. With the gift, the family wants to ensure that the community’s teens have a place to go and activities to participate in, as did the young members of the Eides family while they were growing up in Providence.

“We are happy and proud to be making this gift to a special place and program that will touch many young lives in the future,” said Susan Eides, Michael’s wife.

The family is making the donation in memory of Michael’s sister, Gita, who died at an early age.

Susan, Michael, and his mother, Mira, talked about choosing J-Space for their gift last week. They said Gita was a mentor and tutor to young teens, so the teen program was a good fit for honoring her – and something Michael said he’d wanted to do for a while.

Michael, Susan and their children Rachel, David and Gordon, as well as Michael’s sister, Ilana, have all participated in programs at the JCC.

Their donation was inspired by the generous gifts of Donald and Bonnie Dwares, who have taken the lead in fundraising for the current renovations to the JCC building.

“We’d like to be a catalyst for others to get involved at a younger age to see the gift [they make] flourish,” Susan said, pointing out that gifts - no matter the size - are important.

Giving back is important to this family. The younger Eides all attended Moses Brown School, in Providence, where they were involved in community service. Rachel was awarded the Marc A. Dwares Community Service Award. David worked at Camp Eureka, on the Moses Brown campus, as a counselor helping children who were victims of domestic abuse. Gordon, who is named in memory of Gita, volunteers at Camp St. Ministries and Crossroads RI.

Michael and his father, Alex, own Ocean State Metals, a scrap metal recycling business in Providence.

FRAN OSTENDORF is the editor of The Jewish Voice.