Local News
Team Schvesters once again among Cancercare Manitoba Foundation Challenge for Life top fundraisers
By MYRON LOVE With Covid seemingly in the rear view mirror, the 16th annual Cancercare Manitoba Foundation Challenge for Life 20KM walk (or 200-minute workout) is back again at itas pre-Covid time of year – June 3 this year – and location at Assiniboine Park. Once again, teams dominated or led by members of our Jewish community are among the top fundraisers.
Over the years, Benji Harvey, one of the “Greenfeld girls”, has consistently proven herself to be one of the event’s star fundraisers – and this year is no different. Thus far – as of May 8 – the prolific fundraiser has personally raised just over $12,000 – exceeding the amount she raised last year. Only two other participants in the event have raised more so far this year.
And, her “Team Schvesters” – including her sisters, Lesly Katz and Debby Lewis, along with Kim Gray, Jodi van de Visjel and- for the first time, Senior Provincial Court Judge Rocky Pollack – has already reached its goal of $16,000.
The team was founded by the three sisters after two of the sisters had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Team Schvesters has been participating in the Cancercare event since the beginning .
Pollack has participated in the Challenge for Life for the last several years as well. His wife, Sharon, fought cancer for 14 years before her passing in 2012. During the time that she was ill, both Sharon and Rocky came to appreciate the care that she received from CancerCare Manitoba and they both became actively involved in the organization and the foundation. Pollack has served in a number of positions with the organization over the years.
In fifth place among team fundraisers this year is another “Jewish” team, “Nancy’s Nightingales” – consisting of longtime friends Louise Raber, Joanne Katz, Rhonda Youell, Connie Botelho, Susan Lipnowski, Heather Cram and Harriet Lyons. The team had raised just over $5,939 as of May 4..
Nancy’s Nightingales team has consistently been among the top fund-raising teams over the last 16 years, ever since the inception of the “Challenge for Life.”
The Nightingales were named after a nurse , a cancer survivor- who is a friend of Louise Raber. This year the team will participate in the Virtual Walk over 2 days during the week of May 27 to June 3, attending the opening and closing ceremonies on June 3.
(Back row left-right): Rhonda Youell, Susan Lipnowski, Harriet Lyons, Louise Raber, Heather Cram
(Front left to right): Joanne Katz, Connie Botelho
“Jason’s Journey,” a team led by Jason Gisser, is ranked sixth in monies raised to date –standing at $5,692 as of May 4. “Our goal this year is to raise $11,000,” says the son of David Gisser and Freda Steel.
Gisser himself has already received donations adding up to $4.368 and is aiming to reach $6,000. His team members include Marie-Elyse Badeau, Matthew Maruca, Wendy Martin White and Nora Fien.
The still relatively young lawyer has experienced a more intimate and longer-lasting relationship with cancer than many of the other Challenge for Life participants. He was first diagnosed with cancer when he was 18. The still young lawyer has been fighting cancer for more than half his life now. Happily, an oral chemotherapy pill he has been taking for the past few years has controlled his cancer and allowed him to return to living a normal life.
He first took up the Challenge in 2019 as a way to give back for all the help that he has received over the years from CancerCare Manitoba staff. This year, thus far, he has personally brought in over $5,400 – the fifth most among individual entrants – while his team – has raised over $8,000.
“I personally am aiming to raise $6,000.” He notes.
Gisser will be out of town on June 3 so will not be participating in the main event. He is planning to do the 20km walk a week before on Sunday, May 28 within the Challenge for Life event period of May 27-June 3. The day before, he will be walking 5km accompanied by family members and supporters.
(left-right): Nora Fien, Jason Gisser, Matthew Maruca, Wendy Martin White (Missing: Marie-Elyse Badeau)
(left-right): Brenda Dahle, 89-year-old Pearl Rosenberg, & Cindy Yusim
The oldest participant in the Challenge once again is 89-year-old Pearl Rosenberg who, with her daughters, Cindy Yusim and Brenda Dahle – qnd joined this year by her granddaughter, Lexi Palansky – comprise “Sister Act.”
Rosenberg lost two daughters to cancer within about a year of each other. Naomi Palansky – Lexi’s mother – passed away in 2010 and Michelle Moyer in 2011. Brenda Dahle notes that Naomi walked with her family in the first Challenge For Life Walk.
(And readers may recall that Naomi’s children, Noah and Lexi, started their own team of walkers, “Kids Count”) shortly after their mother received her cancer diagnosis.)
“I started taking part in the Challenge for Life on Team Chai in 2008,” Dahle says. “My mom, my sister Cindy, and I walk in memory of our sisters whose love, strength, and courage continue to inspire us.” Dahle reports that her mother’s walk will be incorporated into her daily walks in Kildonan Park – doing the 20km in increments of 3-5 km a day. Dahle is training at the Wellness Centre while Yusim is working out at the Rady JCC.
“We hope to raise at least $2,500,” Dahle says.
Perennial fundraising dynamo Cathy Moser is also back for her 16thy campaign. The founder of “Serratus Superstars” says she started accepting the Challenge for Life when it was 60 km over two days – in honor of her mother, who passed away from Pancreatic Cancer.
“I saw the ‘good’ that the Cancercare Foundation did when I took my mother there in 2006.” she says. “The Cancercare Foundation does make a difference in our lives – and we have all been ‘touched’ by cancer. The Foundation ameliorates the trauma by providing coffee, cookies and entertainment to people anxiously awaiting blood test results in the Foundation Waiting Room. It cuts down our waiting time for some procedures by purchasing equipment, and it keeps us in the loop of new research and drug trials.”
Over the years, Moser and her teammates have raised over $450,000.00. Moser is still looking to recruit more team members. Interested readers can email her at cathy.g.moser@gmail.com.
Readers can make donations to their preferred team by going online to Challenge for Life.
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First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
Local News
Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
