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
New GrowWinnipeg “Grow Together” highlights diverse origins of our growing Jewish community
By MYRON LOVE On Monday, June 11, about 120 younger Jewish Winnipeggers from diverse backgrounds came together at the Asper Campus for an evening of food and music, games and prizes and, most important, the opportunity to socialize with their peers from a growing community that reflects the long term success of our community’s 26-year-old GrowWinnipeg initiative.
“We are gathered here to celebrate your and your parents’ decisions to come to Winnipeg, build families and raise families here,” noted Dalia Szpiro, GrowWinnipeg’s director, in addressing the young adults in attendance.
To summarize, the GrowWinnipeg Initiative arose when our past community’s leadership recognized that our Jewish population was an aging and shrinking community with aging infrastructure.
The first stage was the planning and construction of the Asper Campus, which brought our major institutions and organizations under one roof in an attractive new building.
The next challenge was to attract more people to our community. GrowWinnipeg was created to take on the challenge. The initiative, which was officially launched in 2000, is unique in its efforts to reach out to young Jewish families throughout the Western world.
The first outreach efforts were directed at Argentina’s sizeable Jewish community at a time when the South American country’s economy was going through a very difficult period. Several of our community leaders visited the Jewish community in Buenos Aires and a website was established. Arrangements were made for local families to host Jewish Argentinians here on exploratory visits and the community helped the prospective immigrants navigate the then new Provincial Nominee Program, find jobs and establish themselves here.
Since then, many young families – from Argentina, as well as a great number of other countries – have chosen to make Winnipeg their new home. The young people at the recent GrowWinnipeg evening were reflective of the diversity of our growing community. During the course of the evening, I had the opportunity to speak with not only Israeli-born participants, also young people from Russia and Ukraine, Turkey and Uruguay – and a young lady who grew up in Ottawa.
Naomi Kirshenblatt Palansky originally came here from Ottawa to go to university. She met and married local entrepreneur Noah Palansky in 2023. (We wrote about Noah in the December 19, 2025 issue). That same year, the former competitive swimmer who competed in the Maccabiah Games in 2009 and 2013 served as manager of the Canadian Junior swimming team participating in the games. She is currently the director of operations and strategy for a company called CoinFlip.
Although born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Yael Borovich grew up in Winnipeg. She is the daughter of Dalia Szpiro and Eduardo Borovich (and younger sister of Vanessa) all of whom moved here in 2002. She is a graduate of the Asper School of Business and works as a senior client relationship manager for Scotia Bank’s commercial branch.
Siblings Igal and Edem Avimelek arrived here from Turkey six years ago with their parents, Etel and Moris. Edem is in her second year at the University of Manitoba while Igal is studying engineering at UBC.
They report that their father, Moris, has established the Upperwear Textile Agency – marketing textile products online – while their mother Etel, is senior IT Director, software development and data analytics and enterprise architecture at Standard Aero.
“Our parents were looking to move to a new country and came across the GrowWinnipeg webpage,” Edem says. “GrowWinnipeg has been really supportive of us in helping us move here and become established.”
More recent arrivals Alex Tsmokaliuk and Jane Hin are from Ukraine and Russia respectively and have been together since 2022. “We were looking for a peaceful place to start a family,”: Alex says. “We heard about GrowWinnpeg and here we are.”
Alex is a fitness trainer while Jane is working for WRE Development as a property manager.
Dora Bronstein, who is originally from Beersheva, is also a recent arrival to our community. “I came to Winnipeg because I wanted to get away from war – and I heard about GrowWinnipeg,” she says.
She is currently working for L.C. Taylor Licensed Insolvency Trustee as an estate manager.
Erele Tzidon and Daniel Mejnov
Last October, GrowWinnipeg introduced its new Youth Ambassadors program.
“Since October, we have been working to create an organized system and opportunities to help young newcomers find their people within our community,” wrote Youth Ambassador Erele Tzidon on Facebook.
“Our mission is to help young immigrants find a sense of home in Winnipeg and support a smooth and welcoming transition.
We are excited to help bring our young Jewish community together.
As reported in the Jewish Post about 18 months ago, Tzidon is originally from Moshav Ginaton in central Israel. She came to Winnipeg in 2018 with her parents Ofer – formerly regional manager for a car rental agency in Israel and now an RBC branch manager – and Sharon – an emotional therapist in Israel who is currently working as an educational assistant at Gray Academy – and three younger brothers.
The 20-year Gray Academy graduate has recently completed her third year in Science at the University of Manitoba. For the past three years, she has also been a member of Dr. Inna Rabinovich-Nikitin’s research team at the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (ICS), researching the link between pregnancy complications and the risk for heart disease.
In November, 2024, Tzidon was presented with the Dr. James S. McGoey Student Award – based on the quality of her cardiovascular research at the ICS, which operates out of the St. Boniface Hospital campus’s Albrechchtsen Research Centre.
Tzidon’s fellow Youth Ambassador is Daniel Mejnov. He was born in Beersheva but moved to Winnipeg with his parents, Dennis and Victoria (and younger brother Alon) 14 years ago. He is currently enrolled in an IT program at the University of Winnipeg.
Mejnov welcomed all those in attendance at the celebration and thanked the volunteers who helped him and Tzidon organize the event.
“It has been great being able to bring so many people together,” he said. “This is a good way to unite our community.
Two other individuals of particular note that I spoke with at the event were Orit Agabayev and Alina Plis, partners in three year old A and O Event Décor, who provided the balloon arches and walls, table settings and centre pieces for the evening.
Agabayev is originally from Netanya and Plis is from Yeruham (in southern Israel). The latter has been here for 18 years and operates a daycare. The former came 16 years. Her principal career is working in the field of animal nutrition.
In an Instagram PosI from four years ago, Plis noted that “I have always been passionate about planning parties and events. I started out with planning big surprise birthday parties for my kids. Eventually I began planning and decorating events for family and friends. Now I am taking the next step with my friend, Orit, who shares the same level enthusiasm as me. What drives me to go above and beyond is simply the excitement my creations bring to those who see my work.
On Facebook, Agabayev added that “Alina and I are so excited to start A&O event decor. We both love decorating and planning different events. We hope that you can put your trust in us to create or decorate an event for you. We do Birthday parties, anniversaries, bachelor/bachelorette parties, proposals, weddings and more..
“Message us with your ideas to get a free quote and you’re one step closer to having an unforgettable event.”
Local News
Hungarian Holocaust survivor focus of new documentary co-produced by Winnipeggers Liam Karp and Jamie Michaels
By MYRON LOVE “I Draw Things the Best I Can,” a new documentary co-produced by Winnipegger Liam Karp and former Winnipegger Jamie Michaels premiered June 8 at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.
The 40-minute film focuses on the life of Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor Adam Policzer from his childhood hiding with neighbours in Miskolc in 1944, his postwar immigration to Chile to reunite with his father (who came to Chile just before the war but was unable to bring his family out), his imprisonment in Chile for over a year under the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinoche following the coup in 1972, his subsequent immigration with his wife and family to Vancouver, and his successful career as an architect.
Earlier this year, Policzer unveiled a new side of himself. He wrote and drew all the illustrations for “The House Across the Street,” the story of his struggle for survival – a memorial he had published in the form of a graphic novel. The book was published by Jamie Michaels’ “Dirty Water Comics” in June.
According to its webpage, Dirty Water Comics is “a boutique publishing house that specializes in literary comics that showcase a unique voice and a talent for storytelling. We publish a selective catalogue, create immersive readings, and pride ourselves on championing the work we curate”.
Michaels co-founded the company in 2016 in order to publish his own first graphic comic –an account of his ambitious journey some years before – along with a couple of high school friends – to travel by canoe down the Red and Mississippi Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. The launch of that graphic novel was reported in a story that previously appeared in The Jewish Post & News.
The son of John Michaels and Karen Stern then published a second graphic novel recounting the 1933 Christie Pitts riot, which pitted younger members of Toronto’s Jewish community and their supporters against Nazi-inspired thugs.
“The House across the Street” is Dirty Water Comics’ fourth publication. (“The Harrowing Tales of La Coriveau” – the third publication – “is a graphic novel retelling the legend and history of Marie-Josephte Corriveau, a Quebecois woman whom the English executed in 1763 for the murder of her second husband. Following her death, Corriveau was hanged from a tree outside of Quebec City in an iron cage. In the centuries that followed, her story was transformed. She became a caged witch who haunted lone travellers, a reviled murderess, and a victim of circumstance”.)
“I first met Adam Policzer a couple of years ago when he approached me about his book,” recalls Michaels, who recently earned his Ph.D from the University of Calgary, where he currently teaches. (His dissertation was on the evolution of Jewish and Arab nationalism during World War I.) “I reached out to Liam and he and I both thought it was a beautiful story and thAt we should make a documentary about Adam.”
Karp and Michaels have been friends since high school (Grant Park). Over the past ten years, the son of Marcia and Morris Karp has built a successful career as the go-to guy for visual effects for movies and television series being shot in and around Winnipeg. He is currently providing his expertise for the remake of the popualtr TV series “Little House on the Prairie,” which is being shot in and around Winnipeg.
In filming the documentary, Karp and Michaels spent time with Policzer and his family in Vancouver. They also filmed on location in Budapest and visited Miskolc to interview members of the family that hid him during the Holocaust.
Karp and Michaels express their appreciation to the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba and Manitoba Film and Music, which provided funding for the project.
Michaels reports that the partners have secured several screenings of the documentary throughout North America. “We hope to show Adam’s story at the Winnipeg Jewish Film Festival next year,” he says.
While Karp and Michaels don’t currently have any plans to collaborate again as yet, they both say that they would like to work together again.
Local News
Former Winnipegger Libby Goszer in need of a kidney donor
By MYRON LOVE It is written in the Mishnah that whoever saves a life is considered to have saved an entire world.
About 18 months ago, Libby Goszer’s kidneys failed and she went into renal failure. She undergoes dialysis – at home – on a daily basis. Her life hangs in the balance and she is reaching out – with the help of first cousins Marnie Ross and Sharon Goszer Tritt – to the community in hopes of finding a kidney donor.
The only child of the late Boris and Eve Goszer grew up in West Kildonan. After graduating with a degree in Psychology from the University of Winnipeg in 1982, she relocated to Vancouver for post-graduate studies and built a life there. She married Doug, had one son, Micah, and practiced clinical psychology for about 35 years.
Her health problems began in 2007 when she was diagnosed with Acute MyeLoid Leukemia. “I underwent a stem cell transplant,” she reports. “As it happens, my donor was Israeli. The operation was successful. I did very well for a number of years.”
(Ed. note: In the June 12, 2019 issue of The Jewish Post & News I wrote about Libby’s having received a stem cell transplant from an Israeli donor. Libby was a featured speaker at a dinner sponsored by an organization know as Ezer Mizion. Former Winnipegger Solly Dreman was instrumental in fundraising for that organization and had played a pivotal role in holding a fundraising dinner in Winnipeg that June to raise awareness of Ezer Mizion.
Here’s what I wrote back then about Libby’s story:
“Libby Goszer told her own heart-rending story of how close shecame to dying when she herself developed acute leukemia in 2006.
“ ‘One moment I was a confident professional, wife and mother; the next moment I was in an isolation room…After treatment, I was given a 60 percent chance my leukemia would return – and it did. I needed a perfect stem cell donor match.”
“In November 2008, fortunately, that perfect match was found in Ezer Mizion’s registry. Transplant recipients aren’t able to find out the names of their donors until a year after having received their transplant but, waiting on the surgical bed that day in November, Goszer said she was overjoyed when she ‘saw a woman come in carrying a bag of stem cells. It never occurred to me though that bag had been transferred all the way from
Israel.’
“In 2012 Libby ‘learned about the donor’s identity’ and in 2013 she and her family flew to Israel to meet her donor, whose name was Moshe, along with his immediate family.
“ ‘They (Moshe and his family) were as excited to meet me as I was to meet him,’ Goszer said. ‘From the darkness of a life-threatening illness has emerged a set of relationships between Moshe, his family, and my family.’
“In closing, Goszer urged members of the audience to think of this ‘night as a night of solidarity where we as Jews will be reminded that we will do what we can to take care of one another.’ “)
Fast forward seven years and Myron continues his story…
“The drawback, however, Libby now notes, is that the immunosuppressive drugs that she had to be on to prevent the rejection of her earlier transplant caused irreparable damage to her kidneys over several years.
I first became aware of Libby Goszer’s plight when – a few weeks ago – I came across an information sheet – prepared by Marnie Ross – while at a community program at the Shaarey Zedek.
“Sharon (Goszer Tritt) helped get the information sheets into the Shaarey Zedek,” Ross says. “I also left copies at the Rady Centre.”
The sheet describes how kidney disease has impacted Goszer’s life – in particular the loss of energy and extreme physical and mental fatigue. Ross has also created a Facebook post (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Bj35eg5nz/ which, so far, has generated 76 shares. “We hope that the people who have responded will share the information with their online contacts,” she says. “We want to get the word out.”
Goszer adds that the members of Temple Sholom, the congregation which she has belonged to since 1992, have also been supportive.
She reports that three friends have come forth to test to see if they are a match. One of the three may be and is undergoing more tests to make sure.
“If you want a really thorough medical check-up, “she observes, “I would recommend that you volunteer to become a kidney donor. They test everything to make sure that the donor is in good health and won’t suffer any damage to their health by donating a kidney.”
She further points out that you can live a long and healthy life with one kidney.
Goszer is also listed with Renewal Canada, a Jewish organization that “helps patients and their families navigate the complex process of kidney transplant, from finding a donor to arranging the transplant and beyond”. The organization also provides financial support for donors “to make sure their incredible self-sacrifice is as easy as can be and comes at no financial cost to them”.
Interested readers can contact renewalcanada.org/libbygoszer – or contact the Living Donor Kidney Program at Vancouver Coastal Health at kidneydonornurse@vch.ca (or phone 1-604 875-4111) and include Libby’s name and birthday (July 31,1958).
While Libby Goszer’s friend is a strong possibility, she notes that you can’t be sure until final approval is received.
“I generally am a positive and optimistic individual,” she says. “There are times when I feel down but, overall, I continue to have faith and hope that things will turn out well.”
“I have so much living left to do and I ask you, from the bottom of my heart, to consider kidney donation. I long to return to a fuller clinical practice, resume volunteering and, of course, watch my son wed and raise his children in our Jewish way of life.”
