West Bloomfield's ShivaGals Helps Families Grieve

Marci Zeman, owner of ShivaGals, said her West Bloomfield business started a few weeks ago.

She recently submitted information about the business to Patch. If you have a business and want to participate in Patch's Small Business Shout Out, you can fill out the online form.

How did your business get started? Experiencing the loss of a loved one is quite painful. After my mother passed away, my friends took charge and saw to it that I would not have to worry about any details when it came to having shiva, a Jewish period of mourning, at my home. My family was fed, rituals were followed, the house was cleaned and then properly set up for visitors. I realized how fortunate I was to have help during such an overwhelming time. ShivaGals was created to take the burden off the mourners and allow them to grieve without the stress and worries of organizing the shiva. Leave the details of the shiva to us.

What services does your business provide? Our services offered are, but not limited to:

• Consult with family regarding shiva needs and desires
• Order meals
• Set up meals
• Hire serving staff
• Hire clean up staff
• Reserve valet parking service, if needed
• Rent tables and chairs, if necessary
• Purchase paper goods and miscellaneous items for meals
• Write obituary
• Arrange for donations of excess unopened food, paper goods, etc.
• Make phone calls to family and/or friends
• Provide traditional “do’s and don’ts” rules of shiva
• Make hotel arrangements for out-of-town guests

What do you want your business to be best known for? I would like my business to be best known for being able to take the burden off of families at a time of grieving and great stress. I would also like to be know for my kindness and compassion towards the families.

What's your most popular service? It is difficult to say what is my most "popular" service, as my entire business is a service to coordinate the shiva from beginning to end so that the mourners can do just that — mourn and not have to worry about details.

Why did you choose the location that you did? I chose West Bloomfield as it is centrally located to the Jewish population in metropolitan Detroit.

For more information, visit www.shivagals.org.