Local News
Gwen Secter Centre and Jewish Child and Family Service working together to provide much needed help for seniors in our community
By BERNIE BELLAN
Beginning two months ago, I’ve been reporting on the incredible job that the Gwen Secter Centre has been doing in providing meals for seniors in our Jewish community since the Province imposed a lockdown on March 13.
As I noted in our May 27 issue, Gwen Secter has gone from producing 60 meals the week of March 30-April 3 to 286 meals for 73 different individuals in late May. This past week, according to Becky Chisick, Executive Director of the Gwen Secter Centre, 340 meals went out to seniors.
I had asked Becky whether there is anyone in particular who deserves a shout-out for what Gwen Secter has been doing?
She wrote: “The shout-out really needs to be going to our volunteer drivers. The routes are increasing and get larger in size. A number of people have come forward to volunteer their time and we are still looking for more. I also have a part-time volunteer meal coordinator, Lauren Cogan. Lauren is helping with on boarding new seniors, coordinating volunteers and making calls to everyone on delivery days. “ (We have a full story about Lauren Cogan in this issue and the extremely active life she leads on page 7.(
Working hand in hand with the Gwen Secter Centre has been Jewish Child and Family Service, which has a large number of senior clients. (The JCFS typically serves between 500-600 seniors a year, according to JCFS Executive Director Al Benarroch.)
Here’s how the JCFS Annual Report described its older adult services: “Older Adult Services is a program designed to support the needs of Jewish elderly living independently in the community. Services ensure an optimal level of psychological, social, cultural, emotional and physical functioning in clients, thereby maximizing their quality of life and allowing them to remain at home and age in place.
“Aging Mental Health is a focused program that addresses the needs of our aging clients who also are living with mental illness and/or other chronic emotional problems. This area provides highly specialized, crossprogram services to clients requiring unique supports for a variety of issues, including those arising from psychiatric illness, memory loss and isolation.”
In addition, JCFS also provides services for Holocaust survivors.
I asked both Becky Chisick and Cheryl Hirsh Katz, Manager, Adult Services at JCFS, whether they could provide me with some names of seniors who might be willing to talk about what Gwen Secter and JCFS have been doing for them during a time when seniors, in particular, are isolated and experiencing much higher levels of anxiety.
In response, I was given the names of six different individuals who, I was told, were willing to speak with me about their experiences. For the purposes of this article, I am using different names for the individuals with whom I spoke, in order to preserve their anonymity. Each of the individuals with whom I spoke lives alone.
“Lisa” told me that (like the 70 other seniors who have been receiving meals from Gwen Secter), she’s been getting four meals a week – two on Tuesdays and two on Fridays.
I asked Lisa how she was put in touch with Gwen Secter to start receiving meals.
“My worker at JCFS is Heather Mandel Kraut,” Lisa explained. “Heather had asked me whether I could use the service (Gwen Secter’s food deliveries)” when the Province imposed the lockdown.
In Lisa’s particular case, while she is able to get out on her own, because of a physical condition, “it’s hard for me to stand – even for the five minutes it usually takes to put together a meal”, she noted. Also, because it’s hard for her to remain on her feet, she does have someone doing shopping for her.
I asked Lisa what she does to supplement the meals she’s been getting from Gwen Secter.
“I’ll buy a chicken and roast it,” she said. She also prepares salads and side dishes but, like the others seniors with whom I spoke, Lisa doesn’t eat a huge amount, so she’s been able to stretch the four meals that she’s been getting from Gwen Secter.
Lisa told me that each time there’s a delivery from Gwen Secter, one meal is meat and one is milk. The meat meals which, she said can be anything from chicken to sweet and sour meatballs, to turkey sausage, to brisket (occasionally), are all accompanied by “a carbohydrate and some kind of vegetable”, Lisa noted.
But, because Lisa is also diabetic, the kitchen staff at Gwen Secter have been careful not to include any items containing sugar in her particular meals so that, in a dairy meal with blintzes, for instance, the strawberries that come with the meal have no sugar.
Something else that Lisa mentioned is that, while she did grow up in a Jewish home where she loved her “baba and aunt’s cooking”, it’s been a long time since she had tasted many of the foods that were so familiar to her as a child. Having lived away from Winnipeg for years, it’s only been since she started receiving meals from Gwen Secter of late that she’s been able to conjure up memories of her baba’s and aunt’s meals.
“I was incredibly lucky in my life to have a baba and aunt who made fabulous meals and the Gwen Secter meals have comparable taste,” Lisa said. “The meals have the traditional edge to them” that she so fondly recalls from her childhood years; eating those meals “brings it all back,” she added.
And – as a sign how thoughtful the Gwen Secter staff has been in arranging those meals, Lisa observed that there “have been extras as well – like boxes of matzah during Passover” and, more recently, challahs on Thursdays.
(I asked Becky Chisick when challahs started to be included with the Thursday deliveries and who’s been providing them? She responded: “We’ve been including Challah for the past few weeks on our Friday deliveries. This was something I really wanted to do for the seniors who are isolated. I felt it was important to bring a little Shabbat into their homes. The challah is not donated, but City Bread is helping us out with a much appreciated deep discount to help stretch our funding dollars. I’m happy to hear everyone is enjoying.”)
*****
“Norman” returned to Winnipeg last year after having lived elsewhere most of his life. In his case though, as a result of an injury, he hasn’t been able to get out, but he is rehabilitating his injury and hopes to be fully functional sometime soon.
In the meantime, his worker at JCFS also told Norman about Gwen Secter’s food delivery program, and he’s most appreciative.
“I do get around with a walker,” he added, but “getting the meals is very helpful”.
I asked him whether the portions in the meals provided by Gwen Secter are sufficient?
“I’ve lost a lot of weight” (since his injury and subsequent operation), Norman answered, “so my eating habits are different – and the portions are sufficient”.
But then Norman mentioned that there are some items in the meals delivered by Gwen Secter that he doesn’t eat, such as potatoes or perogies. I said to him that he should simply let the Gwen Secter staff know that there are certain foods he won’t eat, and I was sure substitutes could be arranged. (I told him about Lisa’s diabetes and how Gwen Secter made sure there was no sugar in any of the foods in her meals.)
Something else that Norman said – and which is probably typical of many of the seniors who have found themselves availing themselves of Gwen Secter’s assistance, is that “I would like to not use it (the food deliveries) so that someone else could use it.”
By the way, Norman had not even heard of JCFS when he returned to Winnipeg last year, so being able to receive assistance from that organization came as a most pleasant surprise.
“JCFS has been very helpful to me,” he noted – “and very supportive – by phone or by email – on an as-needed basis.”
As for the Gwen Secter Centre, again – like JCFS, Norman had never heard of that organization either, and he is deeply appreciative of what the Gwen Secter Centre has been able to do for him.
*****
“Bonnie” has been a client of JCFS in the past but, like Norman, she had been living away from Winnipeg for years.
Unlike Lisa and Norman, however, Bonnie hasn’t had to avail herself of the Gwen Secter food delivery program. She is able to get out and do her own shopping.
In Bonnie’s case, however, it wasn’t a physical condition that led to her contacting JCFS. She has a psychological condition, “but I couldn’t afford to pay a psychologist or a therapist,” she explained.
Yet, Bonnie was not aware that JCFS provides services for individuals such as her. Once she was told though about JCFS’s services for seniors and other individuals with psychological conditions, she did get in touch with JCFS and has maintained weekly contact with a social worker assigned to her case ever since – most recently via ZOOM.
Ever since the provincial lockdown was imposed, Bonnie said she’s been in weekly contact with her social worker. (It used to be only once every two weeks, she noted.)
“The social worker has been really wonderful,” Bonnie said.
*****
The final senior with whom I spoke was “Anne”.
In Anne’s case, she explained, “I have arthritis, so I’ve been stuck using frozen meals.”
“I usually shop at Walmart” (online), Anne said, but “I couldn’t get online” because Walmart’s system was so inundated with users.
“I also tried Cantor’s (early on during the lockdown), “but they were rationing groceries, – things like sweet potatoes,” Anne noted.
“So, I started using Save on Foods for deliveries,” she said, “but they’re quite expensive.
“Then Dan (Saidman, Program & Volunteer Coordinator at the Gwen Secter Centre) phoned me. He knew I’d be in trouble, so he asked me whether I wanted to start getting meals from them – which I did, right from the start” (in late March).
For Anne, just like Lisa and Norman, the meals from Gwen Secter have been a Godsend.
*****
Finally, I spoke with Cheryl Hirsh Katz of JCFS to ask whether there has been an increase in the agency’s caseload of seniors.
Cheryl indicated that has indeed been the case – primarily as a result of the Jewish Federation’s having enlisted volunteers to call seniors (and other individuals in the community who find themselves in particularly unfortunate circumstances as a result of the pandemic). Many seniors have been referred to JCFS as a result of those phone calls, Cheryl noted.
“We’ve identified those of our clients who are most in need,” Cheryl said, and have been keeping close tabs on them, including “sending out 50 care packages to some of the most isolated seniors with plans to send an additional 50 to another group of isolated seniors. Our plan is to do this once or twice per month while this pandemic lasts.”
“We have capacity to take on more clients,” Cheryl noted – and 20 more clients have now been added to JCFS’s caseload to this point.
While JCFS does maintain an “emergency food pantry” to help individuals or families in urgent need of groceries, “there hasn’t, as yet, been an increase in demand”, she said.
What there has been though, is “an increase in demand for emotional support,” Cheryl observed.
“Individuals who have had illnesses” have found themselves isolated and, one other agonizing aspect of the isolation we’ve been enduring is that, for those among us who have lost loved ones during the past three months, it’s been an especially difficult grieving period.
“We have our friendly volunteer phone callers; also our own workers are regularly calling clients”, Cheryl said, but for those seniors who could use some emotional support or would like to be added to Gwen Secter’s food delivery program, the JCFS welcomes your calls.
The JCFS phone number is 204-477-7430. The Gwen Secter Centre’s phone number is 204-339-1701.
Local News
Sold-out audience in attendance at Canadian Museum for Human Rights for event organized by Women Wage Peace
By BERNIE BELLAN On Sunday, April 26, a sold-out audience of over 150 people, consisting primarily of women, was in attendance at the Canadian Museum for Human Right for a program titled “Women for a Just Peace – in Palestine/Israel and at Home.” The program was organized by a group known as Women Wage Peace.
Information provided on the WWP website explained how the program came about and what the purpose of WWP is: “Women Wage Peace (WWP), the largest peace movement in Israel, was co-founded by former Winnipegger Vivian Silver, who was murdered on October 7, 2023. The local group, one of several international affiliates, was established to remember Vivian and carry on her legacy while also promoting respectful dialogue between Jews and Palestinians in Winnipeg. Members of WWP in Israel, as well as here in Winnipeg, are Jewish, Christian and Muslim women who, in spite of different faiths and political leanings, work together in the pursuit of a non‐violent, respectful and mutually accepted solution to the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict so that all children in the region can live in peace and security.”
” ‘Women for a Just Peace – in Palestine/Israel and at Home,’ brought together Winnipeggers from diverse backgrounds and all genders to dialogue and engage with one another as they learned about and are inspired by peace initiatives taking place in Israel/Palestine and in Winnipeg. The afternoon component of the event featured workshops devoted to storytelling and compassionate listening, while the evening program featured a conversation with WWP original member Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum, and a keynote address by the Bedouin Palestinian human rights activist, Dr. Amal Elsana Alhjooj. Both women were friends of Vivian.”
In addition to Women Wage Peace, the program was also sponsored by: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Women of the Sun, New Israel Fund, and Westworth United Church.
(Women of the Sun is a Palestinian women’s organization founded in 2021, while the New Israel Fund is an organization dedicated to promoting “democracy and equality” within Israel.)
Following welcoming remarks from Manitoba Lieutenant Governor Anita Neville, the audience heard from CMHR CEO Isha Khan.
Ms. Khan said that “we like the museum to be a safe place where you can have a conversation.” She acknowledged, however, the tension surrounding holding an event that brought attention to tensions between Israeli Jews and Palestinians, noting that “talking about these things is hard…At a moment like this it is almost impossible to imagine what peace would look like.”
Ms. Khan observed though that “women have consistently shaped discussion, always insisting that a different future is possible.” We need “to try to understand that complexity exists,” she added, at the same tine admitting that “continuing to speak about peace without recognizing the incredible difficulty of what is going on in the world at this time” avoids dealing with the reality of the challenges faced by those advocating for peace.
“Spaces like this” (the CMHR) “are what help keep peace alive,” Ms. Khan said.
As noted, Women Wage Peace was co-founded by former Winnipegger Vivian Silver in 2014. Ms. Silver’s good friend, Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum, was also one of the founding members of WWP.
In addressing the audience, Rabbi Kirshbaum suggested that “the idea that there was a single founder of Women Wage Peace is a patriarchal idea.”
She explained that WWP “came out of a conference held in Sderot following the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in the summer of 2014.
The principles of WWP, Rabbi Kirshbaum said, are “no shaming, no blaming…A just peace is still possible when women unite and organize.”
Rabbi Kirshbaum noted that a Palestinian counterpart know as “Women of the Sun” was founded in 2021.
She told an interesting parable to explain how Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun view the challenge of trying to find a reason for optimism despite everything that is going on in the Middle East today:
The story is of a king who had three children: Two sons and a daughter. The king told the three of them that there was a hut nearby the palace that sat empty.
Whoever could fill that hut to the brim would inherit his kingdom, he said.
The first son filled the hut with rocks, but there was a sliver of empty space at the very top.
The second son filled the hut with feathers, but as the feathers settled, there was also a large space.
The daughter, however, brought only a plate and a candle into the hut. She invited her father to enter the hut with her and, as she lit the candle on the plate, the hut filled with light in every space.
Rabbi Kirshbaum went on to explain that Women Wage Peace was inspired greatly by a documentary film about the removal of a vicious warlord in Liberia by the name of Charles Taylor. That film was titled “Pray the Devil to Hell,” and it told how Liberian women working together led to Taylor’s peaceful removal from power and the restoration of Liberia to democracy.
Rabbi Kirshbaum also alluded to the example of Irish women, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, who joined forces to help end the years of violence that had long beset Northern Ireland.
The pivotal moment for Women Wage Peace came in 2016, Rabbi Kirshbaum explained, when 80,000 Jewish Israeli women and 3,000 Palestinian women walked together for two weeks in a “March for Peace” that culminated in a massive rally in Jerusalem.
The challenge for WWP, however, Rabbi Kirshbaum admitted, is: “How do we turn volunteerism and community service into political power?”
It’s a difficult challenge, she said, but there have been some successes working with some members of the Knesset in an effort to “put the brakes on a locally militarized conflict” and transform it “into a diplomatic effort.”
“A vibrant peace camp still exists in Israel,” Rabbi Kirshbaum insisted. “When women of conscience unite and organize, peace is possible.”
She alluded to the growth of Women Wage Peace around the world, saying we “are building a global network of women that is growing quickly and creatively.”
“Look at all of you here,” Rabbi Kirshbaum said to the audience, alluding to the sold-out crowd.
She referred to a petition that is being circulated online (and on paper at that evening’s event) called “Mother’s Call.” The petition lists points of commonality between Israeli Jewish women and Palestinian women. To sign the petition click here: Mother’s call.
In addition to what WWP has been doing in Israel, another 79 or so organizations there are united in the effort to bring about peace between Israel and Palestine in what is known as the “It’s Time Coalition.”
The motto of the coalition, Rabbi Kirshbaum said, is “Peace: It can be, it will be, it must be!”
Another observation that Rabbi Kirshbaum made is that it is not only women who have not exerted “moral authority,” the same can be said of clergy.
Yet, “peace is still possible when women unite and organize,” she argued. “We are not naive. We are claiming our moral authority.”
Rabbi Kirshbaum was followed by Winnipegger Chana Thau, who noted that the first chapter of Women Wage Peace in Canada was started by former Winnipegger Nomi Fenson in Vancouver, in 2024.
The Winnipeg chapter of WWP was the result of Chana Thau working with Esther Blum to organize here in 2025. Later, three more women helped to organize the Winnipeg chapter: Sharon Chisvin, Loraine Mackenzie Shepherd, a retired United Church minister, and Zhila Naghibzadeh, a Persian Muslim.
Esther Blum referenced a quote from one of the organizers of WWP in Israel, Regula Alon: “While we are each one drop of water, together those drops of water can form a sea.”
The final speaker of the evening was Dr. Amal Elsana Alhjooj, who explained that the name “Amal” means “hope” in Arabic. She noted that she comes from a Bedouin village in Israel’s Negev Desert. Her speech was very personal, as she told of growing up in a household where she was the fifth girl born in her family. She said she was given the name “Amal” because her father was hoping that he and his wife could finally have a boy. Amal’s birth was followed by the births of five boys, she said. (There were later five more girls added to the family, according to Wikipedia.)
Even though she was older than her brothers, “when my mother would serve chicken on Friday night,” she noted, “the boys would get the good pieces while I only got the wing.”
Dr. Aihooj also noted that when she was younger her grandfather sent her out to look after the family’s flock of sheep. She observed that “working with sheep and working with people is very similar because you have to organize them both,” which led to her having a career as a community organizer.
She noted that she grew up discriminated against on two counts: both as a girl and as a Palestinian living within Israel. “Our village had no electricity, no water, no roads,” Dr. Aihooj commented.
She said that even though all Bedouin residents of Israel are citizens of Israel, “the gaps between us and the Jewish majority are huge.”
Her talk focused on her experience advocating for Bedouin women. Dr. Alhjooj said that she founded the first organization for Bedouin women, called “Desert Embroidery.”
She went on to acquire a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Ben Gurion University. She then enrolled in a master’s program at McGill University.
The following information about Dr. Alhjooj is taken from Wikipedia:
“While at McGill University in Canada, Elsana Alhooj became more familiar with Jews and Judaism. After finishing her master’s degree in 1999, she returned to Israel, where she resolved to begin building bridges between Israeli and Palestinian communities, particularly through women. She worked at a community advocacy center in an underserved Jewish neighbourhood in Beersheba, where she continued to build connections and learn.”
In 2000, Dr. Alhjooj founded the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation (AJEEC), which later, she was to run in conjunction with the late Vivian Silver.
In 2012 Dr. Alhjooj moved to Montreal. She is currently an Associate Professor at McGill University’s School of Social Work. She is also a feminist activist specializing in minority rights, gender equality, and community organizing.
Following Rabbi Kirshbaum and Dr. Alhooj’s presentations, there was an all too brief period allowed for questions.
Here are the three questions that were posed to the two women, along with summaries of their answers:
1. How do you keep fighting your fight for peace and not fall into despair?
Dr. Alhooj answered that “I never had that privilege. Peace is the language of the oppressor. Liberty and justice are the languages of the oppressed.”
Rabbi Kirshbaum said that she “came from the opposite place. All I can say is that I agree with Amal,” adding that “there is a thirst among our members for a kind of tranquility that we used to know.”
2. How can we, as mothers, teach our children to be proud Jews and yet, at the same time, realize we are oppressors?
Rabbi Kirshbaum observed that “in Israel there’s just conflict. We’re in a period driven by passions. Here (in Canada) there’s a conflict about the conflict.”
3. Have you received backlash from your own communities?
Dr. Alhooj responded that she “never presented my work as coexistence; I presented it as a partnership.” She went on to say that there was “real pushback” from within her own (Bedouin) community, not only about her role in trying to further dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, but also for her role in advancing women’s rights.
“The head of my tribe didn’t like my encouraging women to go to university,” she observed.
Rabbi Kirshbaum noted that backlash in Israel had “cost me a job and made me more aware of the danger of saying what I really think.”
The evening concluded with entertainment by Israeli-Canadian singer Orit Shimoni, followed by a reception in the foyer of the CMHR.
Here is some information about an upcoming event meant to galvanize support for peace:
Dear friends,
Thank you for signing up to join the People’s Peace Summit.
In just a short while, people across the world will be tuning in, amplifying the urgent voices of those working on the ground for a just peace across homes, communities, and public spaces around the globe.
April 30 at 19:00 Tel Aviv | 17:00 London | 12:00 New York | 09:00 Los Angeles
🎥 Watch the livestream here:
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/Z6nOTkXzQHI?feature=share
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1299320968820425/
Whether you’re joining on your own or hosting a watch party, your presence helps extend the reach of this work – ensuring that the voices, ideas, and partnerships emerging from this Summit are seen, heard, and carried forward.
A special thank you to those hosting watch parties – your leadership is helping create space for conversation, connection, and collective action in communities around the world.
This event is organized by It’s Time – an unprecedented coalition of over 80 peace and shared society organizations that work tirelessly to advance a just and peaceful future for everyone in this land and have come together to build the collective power needed to turn this momentum into real change.
If you’d like to support the work moving forward – strengthening this growing movement, expanding international engagement, and helping translate this momentum into sustained action – you can donate here. Anything helps!
And if you haven’t yet, you can follow us on our English updates whatsapp group , facebook and instagram.
Thank you so much for being with us!
Warmly,
Timna Medovoy
The It’s Time Coalition
P.S. To those of you who indicated you’d like to organize a post-summit zoom with It’s Time leaders, we will be following up with you after the summit!
Local News
Rady JCC Ken Kronson Sports Dinner to feature two heroes from Toronto Blue Jays World Series Championship teams of 1992 and 1993
By MYRON LOVE This year’s 52ND annual Rady JCC Ken Kronson Sports Dinner – scheduled for Thursday, June 4, at the Convention Centre – will feature as special guest speakers two heroes from the Toronto Blue Jays World Series champion teams of 1992 and 1993: former player Joe Carter and former manager Cito Gaston.
The dinner will also mark the launch of a new athletic scholarship in memory of the late Evelyn Golden – a truly remarkable role model for living a healthy life.
Born to Russian immigrants who had the courage and foresight to immigrate to Canada, Evelyn married Dr. Norman Moss and moved to Calgary, where her husband established a dental practice. In Calgary, she raised her three sons, Les, Mortie and Richard (who passed away at a young age) and was an active member of the local Jewish community. After her husband passed away in1970, she moved back to Winnipeg, where she met and married Don Golden.
Evelyn was an active recreational athlete all her life. Remarkably, her last golf outing was at age 100 with her second son. She walked the Glendale Golf Course three times a week until age 88 and had a hole-in-one at age 75. Growing up, she enjoyed tennis, and played well into her 70s. Evelyn was a wonderful homemaker and a dedicated community volunteer. She lived well, with an attitude of leaving disappointments behind, while living for today and planning for tomorrow.
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Throughout her long life, Evelyn never experienced a serious health crisis, nor had any surgeries.
Incredibly, Evelyn lived until the age of 103, passing away in 2019.
Her children feel that the Evelyn Golden Memorial Fund Scholarship is a fitting tribute to their mother. The scholarship will be awarded each year to one Jewish female between the ages of 11 and 17 who has shown a passion for athletics in general and golf in particular, and who also has some financial need.
The scholarship is the second new award to be established in the past two years. Last year saw the introduction of the Meyer Rypp Memorial Basketball Scholarship – reflecting the lifelong passion that the late Winnipeg businessman had for basketball. The scholarship is open to Jewish athletes – male or female – who have excelled in basketball at the school level.
The Max Labovitch Ice Hockey Scholarship is named for quite likely the only member of our Jewish community who made it to the NHL. The right winger played professional hockey for ten years – throughout the 1940s – including a stint with the New York Rangers – and is a member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.
The scholarship is intended to provide some financial support to a young Jewish male hockey player (aged 12-16) “who demonstrates dedication, perseverance and growth in the sport of hockey.”
A second Labovitch scholarship – named for Max Labovitch’s wife, Loretta – is awarded annually to one Jewish female athlete – aged 12-16 – “who has dedicated a strong commitment to sport and personal growth.”
The Brent Knazan Award recognizes two Jewish young athletes – ages 13-16 – who model “fair play, respect and consideration for others and who positively influence teammates and peers both on and off the field of play.”
Then there is the granddaddy of them all – the Idy and Max Nusgart Jewish Athlete of the Year Award – the Rady JCC’s highest athletic honour. Each year, a winner is chosen from five nominees by an independent committee of sports journalists. The award celebrates athletes whose commitment, discipline and performance distinguish them from among their peers while representing the values of sport and community at the highest levels of competition.”
The winner of the Nusgart award – which has been given out since 1986, also receives a bursary from the Fred Glazerman Memorial Fund.
With the exception of the Nusgart and Rypp awards, athletes cannot nominate themselves.
Rob Berkowits, the Rady JCC’s CEO, notes that all of the funds listed above are administered by the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. “We work cooperatively with the donors and the Foundation in regard to the criteria and framework of the awards and scholarships,” he says.
Berkowits points out that the Rady JCC Ken Kronson Sports Dinner – which was founded by the late Ken Kronson – a long-time member of the Rady JCC and its predecessor the YMHA – is our community’s largest single fundraising event.
“We normally draw about 1,300,” he reports, “and we are expecting another sellout this year.”
Another regular feature of the event will include honouring someone special – this year’s honourees being long time Rady JCC members and supporters Sally and Jeff Peel.
Berkowits reports that the Rady JCC – which opened in 1997 – currently has more than 5,000 members – two thirds of whom are not Jewish – from all ages and backgrounds. In addition to its physical fitness activities, the Rady JCC also supports an array of cultural programs, including Shalom Square (our community’s Folklorama pavilion), the annual upcoming Jewish Film Festival, the Music and Mavens programs, and the annual Yiddish Festival.
Readers who are interested in attending the dinner, being a sponsor or supporting the Rady JCC with a donation can contact Zac Minuk at 204 4806562 or online at zminuk@radyjcc.com.
Local News
Beloved former Gray Academy teacher Sharon Freed honoured by appreciative former students
By MYRON LOVE Nicole Freed was inspired to become a teacher by her mother’s example. “I remember the moment I decided to become a teacher,” the daughter of the late Sharon Freed, who passed away suddenly in December 2019, told a gathering of some of her mother’s former colleagues and students. The event, which was held to share memories of Sharon Freed took place in the Kaufman-Silverberg Library at the Asper Campus on Thursday, March 26.
As Nicole Freed recounted, “I was sitting at the kitchen table. Mom was helping me with my homework when she suddenly got up to call a parent. I remember my mom asking if a particular student was okay because she had missed two days of school. After she hung up, I asked her while she called. I suggested that the student was probably just sick. My mother’s response was that she cared about all of her students and wanted to make sure the girl was alright. That moment stayed with me. I wanted to be a teacher – like my mom – who cared about all of her students.”
Sharon Freed hold the record for the longest serving teacher in our Jewish school system. When she retired in 2015, she had taught continuously for 47 years, starting at the former I.L. Peretz School, then moving on to Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate, and finishing her career at Gray Academy. Over that time, she inspired two generations of students. Among them were former students Josh and Samantha Morry and their father, Howard. (Their mother, Hope, grew up in the south end.) In appreciation, the Morry Family has established the Sharon Freed Collection at the Kaufman-Silverberg Library in their former teacher’s memory.
Books and words were very important to Freed, recalled Kaufman-Silverberg head librarian Ana Esterin. “Sharon liked multigenerational novels, historical fiction, romance, and Russian novels, Esterin noted.. “She would frequently come in and ask what well-written new novels were in.”
Freed’s choice of literature is reflected in the new Sharon Freed Collection at the library The collection – behind glass doors in a bookshelf in the library’s foyer sits across from a giant mural with Freed’s visage in the centre of it and a table with a scrabble board with the former teacher’s name spelled out. (Scrabble was another of her passions.)
In formally introducing the Sharon Freed Collection, Lori Binder, Gray Academy’s Head of School and CEO of the Winnipeg Board of Jewish Education, welcomed Freed’s family members, friends and former colleagues and students in attendance either in person or via Zoom. Binder (who is also a former student of the beloved teacher) said the tribute to Freed was “a deeply moving afternoon filled with laughter, tears, and the tradition of storytelling that Mrs. Freed cherished so dearly.
“As we continue to reflect on Sharon’s impact, we are reminded of the words of Rabbi Sacks (z”l), who said that to be a Jew is to know that those who came before us live on in us. Yesterday was a testament to the truth of those words. Sharon lives on in the books we have curated in her honour, the students she mentored, the friends and family she loved, the colleagues she confided in, and the community she helped build.
Thank you for helping us ensure that Sharon’s story continues to be told. That is the thing we can all hope for, that when someone passes, they are remembered through stories.”
Speaking from Israel via Zoom, Freed’s older daughter, Andrea, remembered her mother as “a very special person. It seems that everywhere I go, I run into former students of my mother who want to share with me fond memories of her.”
Nicole added that “it is evident from today’s wonderful event that my mom truly did care about all her students and had special relationships with them. I realize now more than ever what a lasting impact a teacher can make.”
She also thanked Binder and Skye Kneller (Gray Academy’s Director of Advancement and Alumni Relations) for including Freed’s two daughters in the planning of the event. “It meant a lot that you both wanted to make sure that our opinions and thoughts were heard,” she noted.
Marilyn Beloff, Freed’s younger sister, flew in from Vancouver for the inauguration. “It’s clear to me why I’m here,” she said. “I’m here because of this deep love and respect for my sister and how much she’s taught me and lives within me each day.”
“The best way to honour her is to speak about her and keep her in your mind’s eye whenever you can…this wonderful collection will live on.”
Former colleague Lawrence Goldstine spoke about his service with Freed on the Jewish school teacher’s union leadership team. “Sharon was dedicated to fighting for the benefit of Gray Academy’s teachers,” he noted. “I considered her a mentor to me in that regard.”
Former student Ben Waldman credited Freed with how she inspired him to pursue a career in journalism. “Within this school, there’s a tradition of storytelling that begins the moment we enter,” noted the Winnipeg Free Press reporter. We become a part of the Winnipeg Jewish community in such a meaningful way, and I don’t think I fully understood how much Mrs. Freed had to do with that until after I graduated.
“As a teenager, I, like many other young people, was still trying to figure myself out,” he continued. “We were malleable and Mrs. Freed was very much a fixed entity. She knew who she was. And when you came into her room, she knew that she could help shape you, even if you weren’t ready to be shaped.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to remember her than with this gift of a collection in her memory… A celebration for Mrs. Freed is a celebration for this institution that we really do care about and love. I’m happy that a new generation of kids who may not have had the chance to be in her class will now at least know her name.”
Speaking on Zoom on behalf of the Morry family, Josh Morry said that “we had been talking for a long time about doing something to honour her memory. I’m so happy. This collection is so perfectly themed for what she loved, which is books and imparting that to other people. I do hope that her memory will live on. I am sure it does through all of us.”
Morry also spoke of wanting to create a “Mrs. Freed commemorative Scrabble tournament.” “I remember we used to come to her classroom and we would play Scrabble at lunch,” he recalled. “We would talk about the Queen, and we would try to impress her with the way in which we read when she called on us.
“I think as a lawyer, I use a lot of the writing skills that she taught us.”
Lori Binder concluded the presentation with a “very special thank you” to the Morry family, who joined the launch virtually. “Their generous gift made this collection and this launch possible,” she said.
She also thanked the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba for their ongoing and vital support of the library.
Librarian Ana Esterin reports that the initial Sharon Freed Collection includes 13 books. The library is encouraging individuals to consider a donation to the library to add to the collection.