Local News
Gray Academy excels at online teaching during pandemic with ‘Gray Away”
and Annie (Gr. 6)
By BERNIE BELLAN
It was March 13 when the Province of Manitoba announced that, effective March 23, all schools in Manitoba were going to close for three weeks – with the possibility that the closure might be extended.
While it shouldn’t have come as a major surprise, given the speed with which the novel coronavirus was sweeping across Canada and the United States, still, how do you prepare for something as huge as the closing of all schools?
For staff at Gray Academy, however, adapting to new technology has always been a strong suit. Within a period of days the school informed parents that almost everything that had been done in the bricks and mortar Gray Academy was now going to be carried over into what was titled “Gray Away”.
Now, after over two months of having transitioned to a totally new way of learning, the results are in – and it seems that everyone, from staff to parents to students themselves, are more than satisfied with how Gray Academy has managed to adapt so well to the demands that were thrust upon that school.
Staff forced to pivot to online learning in a very short time
On Friday, May 15 I spoke with three members of Gray Academy: Head of School and Gray Academy CEO Lori Binder, Director of Teaching and Learning Rob Dalgliesh, and Director, Marketing and Communications Andrea Ritter.
We discussed how Gray Academy has responded to the demands of taking an entire curriculum online and what the reactions of parents and students have been.
Lori Binder began the conversation by saying: “We’re phenomenally grateful to all of our staff for being able to pivot so quickly in the middle of March in caring for all of our students.
“No one could ever have imagined that within 48 hours we’d have to figure out an infrastructure to care for all of our students and our learning.
“It’s been going incredibly well. We have been able to solicit feedback along the way in the last eight and a half weeks. Feedback has been immensely helpful to help create “our Gray Away infrastructure.
“We had some things in place in the school before the pandemic hit that allowed us to pivot more successfully – especially in the upper elementary to the high school.
“I think it was caring for our littlest kids – nobody in this world would have fathomed children learning virtually at three, four, or five years of age, but I think the biggest drivers for us were insuring that our students in their isolation had very strong connections with their teachers and with their peers on a daily basis through having a timetable and live classes, also a solid structure.”
How the curriculum was developed
Rob Dalgliesh added: “Although our time line was very short, great care went into the creation of ‘Gray Away’ – our virtual academy. It wasn’t rushed. We spent a lot of extra time in the wee hours of the morning creating the pieces that went into it.
“We started with standard curriculum creation by looking at the principal foundations of what we would then carry forward. We looked at the research that is in the area of online learning.
“We looked at pillars – things that we could build on. We wanted to make sure that our kids felt that they were being cared for and safe, but to do that we wanted things to be somewhat familiar – that connection with their teachers, that connection with their peers.
“We also wanted to include a spiritual element. Being a Jewish school we wanted that to be there, so we have our ‘Kabbalat Shabbat’, we have things for holiday programming. Even during the Pesach break we had educators dedicate time to bring forward programming connected to the holiday.
“Another pillar was physical health. It’s easy for a kid not to get up and get going, so we wanted to make sure that there’s an expectation that we wanted them to continue with their phys ed programming.
(Another pillar was) “Mental health – we wanted to help kids with that; showing kids that there’s more to learning than reading a text book. We looked at calming exercises, at the integration of a variety of techniques that our teachers are great at using that help kids with their mental wellbeing.
“For instance, we had wonderful suggestions for creating art at home, also project based learning.”
Zoom for JK-Grade 2; Google Meets for students in Grade 3 & up
At that point I asked “whether the lessons for the kids are individually tailored or are they done in group Zoom sessions, for instance?”
Lori Binder answered: “We’re using the Zoom platform from junior kindergarten through to Grade 2 and we are using the Google classroom platform – which uses Google Meets, in Grades 3 through 12. There are live classes that occur every day – mornings and afternoons.
“We have also built in one-on-one time in our elementary so that teachers have a chance to connect with kids and do some assessment. In our high school there’s a little bit of one-on-time on a daily basis.
“We’ve also set aside blocks on day 3 for all teachers to have an open meeting.”
School still starts at 9 a.m.
I asked: “Can you give an idea how much time a typical student would be online – either individually or within a group setting?”
Lori Binder: “I’ll paint you a picture of elementary: At 9 a.m. every student comes on to Zoom – JK through elementary. The whole school is welcome, but it’s mostly elementary. There are live announcements and the anthems (both O Canada and Hatikvah), and then they head straight to their live classes. They start with a live class with their general classroom teacher, then they continue on either to a live specialist class, which could be French, guidance, music…and then they’ll continue on live.
“I wanted to clarify that in an hour for instance in the high school, it’s not just live teaching.” (Later Lori explained that there is also time set aside for students to study on their own during the school day – just as if they were in the actual physical school.)
Rob Dalgliesh added: “One of the pillars (upon which the virtual school was built) was having a balanced day so that there is online collaboration, for example, small group work.
“At the high school level, there is a teacher giving a lesson, then there is Q and A time afterward – just like in a bricks and mortar school.
“Sometimes the collaboration with other students is just over the phone – like we are right now, having a conversation. It’s not necessarily in front of a screen.
“There are off line working sessions with students doing homework with paper and pen. There are research and innovation projects – personal passion projects that a student wants to research and carry on by him or herself.”
Lori Binder: “I would say it’s about 41/2-5 hours a day (spent in the virtual classroom), but again – it’s not sitting and staring at a screen.
“We’ve got some incredible things going. For instance, a couple of nights ago, the Grade 9 science teacher invited all the students at 9:30 (p.m.) to hop on to a live meeting to look at Venus. It was a particular night that Venus could be visible in the sky.
“Our younger kids would be spending less time (in the virtual classroom) – more around three hours a day, divided up into smaller chunks.”
Close monitoring of each student’s performance
I asked: “Are you able to monitor individual students to see how much time each student is actually spending online?” (I asked that question because I was skeptical that all students are responding with equal eagerness to adapt to the “virtual classroom”).
Lori Binder: “One of the most amazing ingredients to this has been the very close connection between the teachers, the students, and the families. Every three days there are phone calls home.
“If a child has not arrived in the classroom and we have not heard from the parents, then we’re following up. We have very high engagement. I would say that almost every kid is learning.
“Where there’s a differential is in the junior kindergarten – kindergarten, where it’s a little more challenging to be regimented. But, because of the technology (we’re using) all our classes are recorded (and remain on our password protected website for five days), so that if a child did miss a class the parent could go on at any time (and play that lesson for the child).”
Andrea Ritter explained that the younger children spend about 20 minutes at a time online, then they go off to do something on their own, such as art , music, or gym. The teacher is available live, but the student can go and do their work on the dining room table for instance. All the students may be doing their math work, but the teacher is on their screen if they need help.
I asked whether there is a full slate of classes, including Judaic studies, for all students?
Lori Binder answered: “Every single program is running, including English as an Additional Language, our special education department, our guidance department.”
I wondered whether the curriculum being followed thus far in the virtual classroom is keeping apace with what would have occurred in the actual physical classroom?
Lori Binder: “It’s hard to compare going completely virtual. I would say that we are confident we will have achieved the proper outcomes of the curriculum by year end.”
Rob Dalgliesh added: “We’re carefully mapping what’s being done, what’s completed and what’s not. We will be able to determine what a student hasn’t completed before the next year begins.
Rigorous timetable being followed
Lori Binder: “We made a decision to exceed the provincial requirements. We decided to have a rigorous timetable that was also balanced so that, for instance, the lunch hour is a little bit longer than what students would have had in the actual school because we thought the students would need a ‘quiet hour’ getting off the screen time.
“There’s a break of half an hour in the morning and afternoon for the elementary kids so that they can get up and stretch.
“The schedule ends around 3:15 instead of 3:40. Instead of starting at 10 to 9 we’re starting at 9 o’clock.”
I said: “What I’m getting from this is that the kids are adjusting to a situation that would be as comparable as possible to the actual classroom situation.”
Lori Binder: “Yes, we really felt that our kids needed routine, that in their isolation they needed to be connected to the school, to the school community, and to their classmates.”
She went on to explain how the timing of having to switch to the virtual classroom was quickly interrupted by the Pesach break: “In a normal Peasach break we would be off and relaxing, but we knew that our kids would not have the luxury of a Pesach break where they could go out of town so on the non-Yom Tov days we put together a program (with about 20 volunteer staff) where we went on Zoom and we had everything from a pet parade, story time for the young kids, we had an author (Jon Waldman) read from his Jets book, we had teachers eat lunch with the kids – because we just couldn’t go from 13 days of virtual school to a Pesach that was quiet.
“It was during the Pesach break that our leadership team formulated the next phase of Gray Academy, which was Gray Away 2.0, where we finessed our timetable and we finessed our learning hub, especially with the younger kids, so that we found a way to bring the families into a good structure.
“What about other schools that might not be in as good a situation as Gray Academy?” I wondered.
“Are kids in other schools going to have to repeat the year entirely because they might not have had access to the kinds of technology that Gray Academy kids have?” I noted that in Quebec, for instance, “they’re abandoning the school year for kids who live in Montreal.”
Lori Binder explained that “there is an answer from the province actually.” She asked Rob Dalgliesh to expand upon what the province has asked schools to do.
Rob Dalgliesh picked up: “The province does not want children to be held back based on what’s happening now.” There is a possibility that there may be summer schooling for students who have fallen behind, he noted.
Lori Binder also noted that the province has asked that in report cards at year’s end, for students in Grades 9-12, it will have to be cited whether a student requires recovery learning in the fall or whether they do not require recovery learning. That will help guide students who are moving between schools.
Plans being laid for eventual reopening of the school
“Are you making any plans at all for a possible return to the classroom with social distancing in place?” I asked, or “is that too far ahead to think about yet?”
Lori Binder: “We were just in a town hall meeting with Dr. (Brent) Roussin (Manitoba’s Chief Public Health Officer) yesterday, along with about another thousand administrators from across the province and they just released a draft guideline called ‘limited facility school use’. It’s incredibly limited; it doesn’t involve plans for the fall. It deals with a child needing to meet with a guidance counsellor one on one, for example, or with a therapist.
“We are anticipating planning for a number of scenarios and, therefore, we’re planning with about five or six different things in mind, such as: ‘Are we going to have fewer students in spaces?’ We’ve been looking at what social distancing might look like in a classroom, whether we’re going to have to look at mixed days.
“We are very, very involved with our Canadian accredited independent schools. We meet with the Department of Education weekly. We’re also very connected to the Manitoba Federation of Independent Schools. (I happen to be vice-chair of that right now.) We’re all working together.”
Post script: Following my conversation with the three administrators from Gray Academy on May 15, the Province of Manitoba announced new guidelines for schools. We received the following note from Andrea Ritter on Friday, May 22:
“As you know, the provincial directives have changed since we spoke. Throughout the entire process of building and delivering Gray Away, we’ve had to be on our toes for ongoing changes!
“Right now we’re exploring possibilities of what we might be able to do in terms of allowing limited groups students into our building (and our outdoor spaces) for occasional group activities, one-one-one guidance, exams, etc. There will be no in-class learning; the Province has re-iterated that in-school classes are still suspended for all Manitoba schools. Gray Away remote learning will continue for the remainder of the year, but it could be wonderful to be able to give students the opportunity to visit their teachers and friends, with strict adherence to physical distancing, etc.
“Even with new directives from the Government of Manitoba, we will only open our doors to students when we are fully confident that we can meet all provincial expectations for protecting the health and safety of our school community – staff, students and families. While we do not have all the answers today regarding what will over the next month or so, we will definitely keep our families informed every step of the way.
Andrea also sent links to three videos that provide good illustrations of how Gray Academy has been adapting to the current situation:
Thank You Teachers –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnNg-dPmTdg
Gray Academy Grad 2020 Tribute –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTH9dET_Ig4
Song Festival Greatest Hits Vol. 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikx858JUxhU&t=1080s
Local News
Local foodie finds fame by trying foods on Facebook Marketplace
By BERNIE BELLAN Disclaimer: The subject of this story is my daughter, but don’t hold that against me.
Shira Bellan is an intrepid adventurer when it comes to trying out new foods. A while ago, as she explained in an interview conducted with her by CJOB’s Hal Anderson on January 28, Shira was just laying on her couch scrolling through Facebook Marketplace when she came up with the idea of trying different foods and posting her reactions to them – first on Facebook, then when she developed a following – on Instagram, followed by a YouTube channel and, at my suggestion, on TikTok. She now has tens of thousands of followers all over the world, with her audience growing every day.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
Anderson: How did you come up with this idea?
Bellan: Honestly, I was just, uh, laying on my couch browsing Marketplace like I often do, and I kept seeing food pop up and I just thought it would be hilarious to start buying food and then reviewing it because I thought there were some very interesting food items on there. And I was pretty surprised that people were trying to sell them on Marketplace. And it just made me laugh. And so I thought, “Let’s do this.”
Anderson What have you found out?
Bellan: Yeah, I kind of think that it’s a bunch of family members that say to each other, “This is so good. You should sell this.” And it’s not easy to get your food into a restaurant or into a bakery. And Facebook Marketplace is thriving and it’s super easy to use for anyone of all ages, and I think Facebook is just super well known.
So I think people started putting super simple food items up there and I really think my page has made it explode a lot bigger as of lately. But I think there’s always been food on there. I just don’t think it was as big until very recently.
I’ve always seen people selling food, and I’ve gone, “Well, I wouldn’t want to try that, that doesn’t look very good, or man, that looks great. I would love to try that.”
And I think in many cases it’s food tied to an ethnicity of one kind or another that maybe we wouldn’t normally get to try in a restaurant in Winnipeg.
Anderson: Right. So good for you for doing this because you’re sort of, without me having to do it, you’re saying, “Yeah, this is worth it, or, or this one isn’t.”
Bellan: That’s exactly what I’m doing. And it’s been interesting. I’m loving chatting with the different people, the different languages, and just exploring all the foods and, and there’re some foods that I’m trying that people from that specific ethnicity are saying, “Oh God, do not eat that.”
I’ve had some good ones, I’ve had some bad ones. And for the most part though, it’s really good. I think it’s just cool to learn about other people’s heritage and what they eat and like.
Anderson: So you said – in the clip I just played (referencing a clip he played before Shira came on the air) I love that one – the butter chicken. But if you had stuff that you bought that you went, “Oh man, this is a miss.” What would you say?
Bellan: I’m quite nervous to post some of the ones I don’t like because I’m called racist multiple times a week. And I’ve tried to make it clear that when I don’t like something, it has absolutely zero to do with the culture, ethnicity, or country that the food’s from, it has everything to do with how the food tastes.
And I need to remind people that these are home chefs. I don’t know how they made the recipe. I don’t know that they followed a recipe. I don’t know that they didn’t put dog food in it. So, if I don’t like something, it doesn’t mean that it’s bad. It means that I personally did not like it.
I try to be very open-minded to foods. I don’t eat meat. I’ll occasionally eat chicken – so that kind of eliminates a lot of the foods that I’m able to buy on there. But I am very interested in all the different ethnicities and their foods. Some of ’em are very scary ’cause they’re not foods I would eat every day, but it would be very boring if I was just buying chicken fingers and fries off marketplace.
Anderson: Well, that’s how I feel sometimes, right? I mean, even, you know, even with these delivery apps now, if we decide, well, we’re gonna order in, we’ll spend sometimes way too long deciding what we’re gonna have. Because it feels like even though we have all these incredible choices, it feels like it’s the same, four or five things and we don’t feel like it.
So I I like what you’ve done. Listen, on people being critical when you say you don’t like a certain food. You’re gonna have those people – trust me, being in the business I’m in, you’re gonna have people that are gonna make that connection. And just based on what I’ve seen of your stuff I don’t get a hint at all that it’s about the people you bought it from or their ethnicity.
It’s just you aren’t a fan of that particular food. And they may have made it perfectly, but you’re just not into that food.
Bellan: Exactly, and I’ve tried some North American foods that just tasted disgusting, too. And again, it’s home chefs and as for myself – I am the worst cook on the planet.
If I put something on Marketplace and someone ate it, they wouldn’t be ridiculing me. They’d be ridiculing my horrible cooking skills. What’s more fun for me is trying these foods that I consider strange. I had a really interesting one today. It was like a slippery, slimy, gooey shrimp. I couldn’t do it.
Someone might like it, but nope. Wasn’t for me.
Anderson: Yeah, and you’ve had some really cool ones, like a fairly recent post is the marshmallow flowers. I mean, incredible, incredible.
Bellan: They tasted unbelievable too. They did not taste like a store-bought, packaged marshmallow. They had a very unique flavour and texture.
They tasted amazing. I would eat them every day and the girl who makes them puts so much time and love into them. She told me that it takes about two days to make with all the processing and all the different steps it takes, and they were so beautiful. I didn’t want to eat them, but of course I did.
Anderson: Here’s the other thing too, about what you’re doing it, and you tell me, you probably didn’t realize this when you started doing it, but in some cases where you do this and you got a lot of followers, you’re getting a lot of views.
And when you say, “man, this is really good.” That person then gets maybe more orders than they can handle, but many of them are really happy about that. You had them call you up in tears after the fact and say, you know, “I was selling these dishes to make a couple of bucks ’cause my, my family is struggling” and now they’ve got more orders than they know what to do with.
And, you have really helped them make ends meet.
If you would like to see any of Shira’s food review videos you can look for them on Instagram by entering winnipegmarketplacefoodfinds or on YouTube enter @shira_time
Local News
The Simkin Centre received over $500,000 in charitable contributions in 2025 – so why is its CEO complaining that “it cannot make the same number of bricks with less straw?”
By BERNIE BELLAN (This story was originally posted on January 14) I’ve been writing about the Simkin Centre’s aacumulated deficit situation ($779,000 according to its most recent financial report) for some time.
On January 14 I published an article on this website, in which I tried to find out why a personal care home that has an endowment fund valued at over $11 million is running such a huge deficit.
Following is that article, followed by a lengthy email exchange I had with Don Aronovitch, who is a longtime director of the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation. My purpose in writing the original article, along with the update, is I’m attempting to ascertain why the Simkin Centre simply doesn’t use more of the charitable donations it receives each year to address its financial situation rather than investing then under the management of the Jewish Foundation:
Here is the article first posted on January 14: A while back I published an article about the deficit situation at the Simkin Centre. (You can read it at “Simkin Centre deficit situation.“) I was prompted to write that particular article after reading a piece written by Free Press Faith writer John Longhurst in the August 5 issue of the Free Press about the dire situation personal care homes in Winnipeg are in when it comes to trying to provide their residents with decent food.
Yet, Longhurst made one very serious mistake in his article when he wrote that the “provincial government, through the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, has not increased the amount of funding it provides for care-home residents in Manitoba since 2009.”
In fact, the WRHA has given annual increases to personal care homes, but its allocations are not broken down by categories, such as food or salaries. As a spokesperson for the WRHA explained to me in an email: “PCHs receive per diem global operating funding based on the number of licensed beds they operate. This funding model is designed to support the full range of operating costs associated with resident care, including staffing, food services, utilities, building operations, and other day-to-day expenses.”
Now, one can make a perfectly valid argument that the level of funding from the WRHA has not kept up with inflation, especially inflation in food costs, but the Simkin Centre is in an even more precarious position because of the skyrocketing cost of kosher food.
“In recent years,” according to an article on the internet, “the cost of kosher food has increased significantly, often outpacing general food inflation due to unique supply chain pressures and specialized production requirements.”
Yet, when I asked Laurie Cerqueti how much maintaining a kosher facility has cost the Simkin Centre, as I noted in my previous article about the deficit situation at Simkin, she responded: “approximately $300,000 of our deficit was due to food services. I do not have a specific number as far as how much of the deficit is a result of kosher food…So really this is not a kosher food issue as much is it is an inflation and funding issue.”
One reader, however, after having read my article about the deficit situation at Simkin, had this to say: “In John Longhurst’s article on Aug 5, 2025 in the Free Press, Laurie (Cerqueti) was quoted as saying that the annual kosher meal costs at Simkin were $6070 per resident. At Bethania nursing home in 2023, the non-kosher meal costs in 2023 were quoted as $4056 per resident per year. Even allowing for a 15% increase for inflation over 2 years, the non-kosher food costs there would be $4664.40 or 24% lower than Simkin’s annual current kosher food costs. If Simkin served non-kosher food to 150 of its 200 residents and kosher food to half of its Jewish residents who wish to keep kosher, by my calculation it would save approximately $200,000/year. If all of Simkin’s Jewish residents wished to keep kosher, the annual savings would be slightly less at $141,000.”
But – let’s be honest: Even though many Jewish nursing homes in the US have adopted exactly that model of food service – where kosher food is available to those residents who would want it, otherwise the food served would be nonkosher, it appears that keeping Simkin kosher – even though 45% of its residents aren’t even Jewish – is a “sacred cow” (pun intended.)
So, if Simkin must remain kosher – even though maintaining it as a kosher facility is only adding to its accumulated deficit situation – which currently stands at $779,426 as of March 31, 2025,I wondered whether there were some other ways Simkin could address its deficit while still remaining kosher.
In response to my asking her how Simkin proposes to deal with its deficit situation, Laurie Cerqueti wrote: “There are other homes in worse financial position than us. There are 2 homes I am aware of that are in the process of handing over the keys to the WRHA as they are no longer financially sustainable.”
I wondered though, whether the Simkin Centre Foundation, which is managed by the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba might not be able to help the Simkin Centre reduce its deficit. According to the Jewish Foundation’s 2024 annual report, The Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation, which is managed by the Jewish Foundation, had a total value of $11,017,635.
The Jewish Foundation did distribute $565,078 to the Simkin Centre in 2024, but even so, I wondered whether it might be able to distribute more.
According to John Diamond, CEO of the Jewish Foundation, however, the bylaws of the Foundation dictate that no more than 5% of the value of a particular fund be distributed in any one year. There is one distinguishing characteristic about the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation, in that a portion of their fund is “encroachable.” The encroachable capital is not owned by JFM. It is held in trust by JFM but is beneficially owned by Simkin, similar to a “bank deposit”. While held by the JFM, these funds are included in the calculation of Simkin’s annual distribution.
I asked John Diamond whether any consideration had been given to increasing the distribution that the Jewish Foundation could make to the Simkin Centre above the 5% limit that would normally apply to a particular fund under the Foundation’s management.
Here is what John wrote in response: “The Simkin does have an encroachable fund. That means that at their request, they can encroach on the capital of that fund only (with restrictions). This encroachment is not an increased distribution; rather, it represents a return of capital that also negatively affects the endowment’s future distributions.
”It is strongly recommended that encroachable funds not be used for operating expenses. If you encroach and spend the capital, the organization will receive fewer distribution dollars in the next year and every year as the capital base erodes. Therefore, the intent of encroachable funds is for capital projects, not recurring expenses.”
I asked Laurie Cerqueti whether there might be some consideration given to asking for an “encroachment” into the capital within the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation?
She responded: “We are not in a position where we are needing to dip into the encroachable part of our endowment fund. Both of our Boards (the Simkin Centre board and the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation board) are aware of our financial situation and we are all working together to move forward in a sustainable way.”
At the same time though, I wondered where donations to the Simkin Centre end up? Do they all end up in the Simkin Centre Foundation, for instance, I asked Laurie Cerqueti on December 15.
Her response back then was: “All donations go through our Foundation.”
I was somewhat surprised to read that answer, so I asked a follow-up question for clarification: “Do all donations made to the Simkin Centre end up in the Simkin Centre Foundation at the Jewish Foundation?”
The response this time was: “No they do not.”
So, I asked: “So, how do you decide which donations end up at the Foundation? Is there a formula?”
Laurie’s response was: “We have a mechanism in place for this and it is an internal matter.”
Finally, I asked how then, the Simkin Centre was financing its accumulated deficit? Was it through a “line of credit with a bank?” I wondered.
To date, I have yet to receive a response to that question. I admit that I am puzzled that a personal care home which has a sizeable foundation supporting it would not want to dip into the capital of that foundation when it is facing a financial predicament. Yes, I can see wanting the value of the foundation to grow – but that’s for the future. I don’t know whether I’d call a $779,425 deficit a crisis; that’s for others to determine, but it seems pretty serious to me.
One area that I didn’t even touch upon in this article, though – and it’s something I’ve written about time and time again, is the quality of the food at the Simkin Centre.
To end this, I’ll refer to a quote Laurie Cerqueti gave to John Longhurst when he wrote his article about the problems personal care homes in Winnipeg are facing: “When it comes to her food budget, ‘we can’t keep making the same number of bricks with less straw.’ “
(Updated January 24): Since posting my original story January 14 I have been engaging in an email correspondence with Don Aronovitch, who is a longtime director of the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation.
On Jan. 19 I received this email from Don:
Hi Bernie,
Your burning question seems to be “Do all donations to the Simkin Centre end up going to the SC Foundation.”
In our attempts to explain the subtle workings of the Simkin Centre PCH, the Simkin Centre Foundation & the role of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, we somehow have failed to answer your question. I trust that the following will do the job.
All donations to the Simkin Centre (PCH & Foundation) go to the SC Foundation as a ‘custodian’ for the PCH.
Then, at the direction of the PCH, the monies, in part or in whole, are transferred to the PCH either immediately or subsequently. Further, again at the PCH’s direction, a portion may be transferred to the Foundation’s Encroachable Building Reserve Fund at the JFM.
Regards,
Don Aronovitch
I responded to Don:
But how are the monies that are transferred to the PCH treated on the financial statement?
Is everything simply rolled in as part of “Contributions from the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation?”
On Jan. 22 Don responded:
Bernie,
I said previously and I repeat that the Simkin Centre has many sharp minds and therefore, it is eminently able to effect asset management strategies appropriate to the Simkin Centre’s ‘Big Picture’ which they understand fully. Having said that, please note that:
Other than the Simkin Stroll which brings in about $100k and goes directly into the Home’s operations to support the program being promoted, the annual contributions to the Simkin Centre are relatively nominal.
The suggestion that there may be a sub rosa plan to ‘starve‘ the PCH by stashing money in the Building Reserve Fund at the JFM is absurd, totally absurd!!
Don
I responded to Don:
Don,
According to the Simkin Centre Foundation’s filing with the CRA it received $205,797 in charitable donations in 2025 plus another $387,000 from other registered charities.
Would you describe those contributions as “relatively nominal?”
But – there is no way of knowing what portion of those donations was given back to the Simkin Centre for immediate use and what portion was invested by the Jewish Foundation.
Can you tell me why not? (Laurie says that is an “internal matter.” Why?)
By the way, I never wrote there was any plan to stash “money in the Building Reserve Fund at the JFM.”
I was simply asking what is the point of building up an endowment for future use when the Simkin Centre’s needs are immediate, viz., its accumulated deficit of $779,000.
Also, have you or any other members of the board had meals for a full week at the Simkin Centre? I have spoken to many residents during my time volunteering there who told me they find the quality of the food to be very poor.
Why I’m so persistent on this point Don is that Laurie Cerqueti has been making the case – quite often – that the amount of funding the Simkin Centre receives from the WRHA is far from adequate.
But, if it’s actually the case that the Simkin Centre receives a substantial amount in charitable donations each year, but chooses to invest a good chunk of those donations rather than spend them, then it’s hardly a valid criticism to make of the WRHA that it’s funding is inadequate.
Why is it so gosh darn difficult to come up with the amount Simkin has been receiving in charitable donations?
Could it be that it’s because a lot of people would be dismayed to learn the reason is that money is being invested rather than being spent?
-Bernie
Don responded:
Bernie,
I add the following to this, my last contribution to the thread below.
First, let’s stick with individual donors as those were the references you started with. Starting with the 2025 figure of $206,000 total, deduct $105,000 (from the Simkin Stroll) and also deduct the healthy 5 figure donation (from a longtime Simkin supporter). We then have approximately $60,000 from 20/30 individuals and YES, it is what I would call “relatively nominal”.
As an fyi, I am in Palm Springs and in the past several days, I have asked 4 individuals what would be their spending expectations of a charity to which they donated $25,000. The responses were almost identical and they can be summarized as “We only support organizations where we value their mission and trust their management. In trusting their management, we believe that they know best if our money should be used for current operations, for future operations or for both.“
Don
Does it make sense to say, as Don does, that when considering the amount of charitable dollars the Simkin Centre receives, one ought to deduct the proceeds from the Simkin Stroll and a “healthy 5 figure donation?” I don’t see the logic in that.
And, I’m still wondering: How much of the more than $500,000 in charitable donations the Simkin Centre received in 2025 came back to the Simkin Centre to fund its immediate needs and how much was invested?
Local News
New community security director well-suited for the challenge
By MYRON LOVE Despite his still-young age, William Sagel, our community’s newly appointed director of security, brings a wealth of experience to his new role.
“I have always been drawn to protecting others,” observes the personable Sagel. “It may reflect the difficult time growing up, being bullied throughout elementary school. I was small for my age, and I usually found myself breaking up fights.”
His early years, he recounts, were spent growing up in Nice, on the famed Riviera, where his father worked in construction management. At the age of 10, the family moved back to Montreal.
Back in Montreal, Sagel continued his studies, graduating from high school and CEGEP, then enlisting in the armed forces.
Following his army service, he began his career with the Dutch Diplomatic Security Service. While working abroad, a banking executive encouraged him to return to school and earn a university degree.
“I chose to come back to Montreal,” he says. “That is where my family is.”
Armed with a degree in political science, he embarked on a career in security consulting.
In 2023, after years of working in Canada, William began training security forces in Mali. “I was responsible for the training department. We had around 400 security personnel, providing them the tools and skills to be more effective at what they do,” he explains.
Sagel arrived in Winnipeg on December 1 to assume his new position.
“The major focus in our security program is to build resilience and empower the community,” he explains. “Developing a plan to be able to respond properly to future crises. We establish a baseline, where you are now and where you hope to be in five years’ time.”
He notes that our Jewish community can learn from the national network and security networks already established in Montreal and Toronto to provide security and peace of mind for community members.
“I plan to work on raising security standards,” he says. “With the rise in antisemitic incidents over the years and after October 7, we need to do more to mitigate threats. We must raise awareness through education and empower community members through training.”
He speaks about encouraging more people to contribute their time to strengthening our community in any way they can, especially through volunteering. He encourages anyone who is willing to participate to reach out to him directly.
“Over the next few months,” he reports, “I will be working with institutions to put programs in place that will build resilience. The goal is to provide long-term security not only for ourselves but also for future generations.”
When asked about the hostile environment for Jewish students on university campuses, he says that he has had positive discussions with both the Winnipeg Police Service and the University of Manitoba’s director of security, who are committed to providing a more conducive learning environment for students.
As to his impressions of his new Jewish community, he has only positive things to say. “I came here alone, but everyone has been super friendly and welcoming,” he comments. “A lot of people have reached out to me. I have had a lot of dinner invitations, but unfortunately have been very busy trying to get organized and settled.”
“I am looking forward to the next few months of exploring Manitoba, its parks and museums, and seeing what the city has to offer.”