Her degree in anthropology from the prestigious University of California at Berkeley didn’t exactly prepare Ellen Dean for her ultimate professional path: from first running Miracle Mile, the popular Valley delicatessen founded by her father, Jack Grodzinsky, to serving as Arizona coordinator of BookPALS, a program in which performing artists and trained volunteers read to children in public schools. It operates under the umbrella of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation based in Los Angeles.
So how did she come to segue from latkes to literature, from brisket to BookPALS? Ellen and her husband, Craig, bought the deli at Park Central from her father in the early 1980s. “I grew up in the business, but it was a real learning experience for Craig, who came from a Midwestern farming family,” she says. “But he was a quick study, learned a new language, ‘Deli Yiddish,’ and was slicing pastrami before long.”
She recalls that during its heyday at the Park Central location, lines literally were out the door as customers waited to place their orders. “We typically could serve around 1,000 lunches on a weekday,” Ellen says of that flagship deli. Nowadays Miracle Mile’s two delis are on Camelback and in Scottsdale.
She never thought she would join the family business, but wound up eating her words. And her family ended up eating her deli cuisine. “I brought food home most of the time,” she says, noting it was a definite plus not to have to do too much cooking. The deli meals delighted the two now-grown Dean children, Jonathan, a professional golfer, and Molly, a psychotherapist. Now the Miracle Mile Delis are owned by Ellen’s sister and brother-in-law, Jill and George Garcia. Both Jill and Ellen’s husband Craig are BookPALS. Craig is a community activist and serves as president of Sunnyslope Kiwanis.
Nedda Shafir, a family friend and educational consultant, had told Ellen about BookPALS, suggesting it to her as a great part-time volunteer outlet. Ellen researched the project and says, “It spoke to my heart.” She was named the paid coordinator for Arizona in 1998, which became a full-time responsibility when she and Craig sold their deli after 26 years.
Originally Arizona BookPALS operated primarily in the Valley, but in 2008 Tucson BookPALS launched. “We do have nine Tucson schools currently participating in the program,” says Ellen. “We are always looking for performing artists to fill our ranks since BookPALS is a program of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. It’s a wonderful way for actors to give back to their community!”
BookPALS (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools) was founded in 1993 by Barbara Bain, the actress who was one of the stars of television’s “Mission Impossible.” Volunteers were, and still are, professional performing artists, who, along with community volunteers, donate their time and talents on a weekly basis to read aloud to children in public primary schools.
On a national level, the program reaches more than 100,000 children a week in locations including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Florida and New England. Volunteers have the opportunity to participate in special events such as Read Across America and additional literacy events in schools, libraries and bookstores.
Ellen says her job is to recruit, train and support local volunteers. Performing artists and theater students are the primary source, but they are joined by community volunteers, most of whom are teachers, retirees, grandparents and educators who miss the classroom experience and like kids. She conducts training sessions, hosts end of the school year BookPALS luncheons, distributes donated books for volunteers to give out in classrooms and supplies recommended reading lists for all grades. (Full disclosure: I am a BookPAL at Madison Heights Elementary School.)
Always on the lookout for new BookPALS, “People who, you should excuse the expression, are ‘hams,’ who can make a story come to life,” Ellen finds that volunteers typically are nervous at first. “I tell them to call me when they get home, and they always are happy. The kids hug them, they get applause. They tell me it is the best time of their week, and they can’t wait to go back to their classrooms.”
