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42 December 7 • 2017 jn At Magen David Adom, Israel's national EMS service, help begins the moment the phone is answered. Because EMTs handle the calls, they can provide lifesaving instructions while dispatching ambulances and first-responders on Medicycles. And now, with 15,000 CPR-certified civilian Life Guardians joining our team, help can be just seconds away. As we celebrate Chanukah, please give the gift of life, and make your year-end tax-deductible donation today. At Magen David Adom, we're often saving lives before our ambulances even arrive. AFMDA Midwest Region 3175 Commercial Avenue, Suite 101 Northbrook, IL 60062 Toll-Free 888.674.4871 • midwest@afmda.org www.afmda.org continued from page 40 » g i f t g u i d e 2 0 1 7 their life. I feel such joy in watch- ing them dance at their wedding for the first time as husband and wife. Preparing the future bride and groom for that dance is a gift of love," she says. When Debra Walter, a personal chef from Huntington Woods, turned 50, some of her friends got her a gift card for Zingerman's Bakehouse, knowing that Walter had always wanted to take cooking classes at the popular Ann Arbor establishment. Walter, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, says she learns great baking tips and techniques in the Jewish cookies, Italian cookies and challah-baking classes she's taken. Sammy Vieder, also of Huntington Woods, is an aspiring chef who became a bar mitzvah last summer. In addition to receiv- ing envelopes full of cash and checks, Vieder got a chance to be a sous chef at Bacco Ristorante in Southfield. Longtime fam- ily friend Sheri Mark got permis- sion and made arrangements for Vieder to spend the better part of a Saturday helping the chef prepare for a catered event. He chopped vegetables, helped make soup and brought home what his mom, Stacy, described as a "really delicious" veggie lasagna. He also had the opportunity to talk with various restaurant staff including the head chef and pastry chef. Sheri Mark, who also likes to spend time in the kitchen, has cooked with Vieder before and likes to give experiences as gifts. "I like giving experiences more than going to the store and buying someone a gift because I think it says I'm really thinking about you. It's from the heart," says Mark of Bloomfield Hills. When giving an experience as a gift, Pomeroy recommends finding out what the recipient is passion- ate about or enjoys and looking for something related to his or her interest. Groupon, Yipit and other online coupon sites frequently have deals on a host of activities includ- ing ice skating, indoor trampoline parks, dance or yoga classes. They also offer less mainstream activities including fencing classes, wine tast- ings, archery, glass blowing, flying and skydiving lessons, just to name a few. Money toward classes and team sports are also popular gifts but can end up costing the parents more if the child wants to continue with the classes or lessons. For example, Bloomfield Township mom Beth Goldberg jokes that the gift of swim lessons her son received from her brother ended up costing her a fortune. While it got her son Jack started with swimming, he con- tinued with those lessons until he was comfortable in the water, she recalls. "These experiences are far better than gifts like toys," Goldberg says, "because while a toy eventually gets thrown out, the memory of an expe- rience or the skills learned from the experience lasts." • Give the gift of skydiving.