Michigan Jews Launch Online Drive For Torched Mosque

By Marcy Oster March 16, 2017

(JTA) — A crowdsourcing campaign by a Jewish federation in Michigan is raising money for a local mosque damaged in an arson attack.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor has raised more than $3,000 since the campaign launched Monday on the Crowdrise website. Most of the donations are between $18 and $100, many of them anonymous.

The building housing the Islamic Center of Ypsilanti, which also serves as a mosque, was destroyed in the March 11 fire.

A 16-year-old boy was identified and questioned as a suspect in the arson, as well as the arson a week earlier of a vacant house on the same block. Police do not believe the attack was a hate crime, according to reports.

The teen was released to the custody of his parents pending the filing of charges.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO