Local News
JCFS and Gwen Secter Centre continue to provide key supports during pandemic
By BERNIE BELLAN
Ever since the COVID pandemic first began to have a major impact in our community I’ve been reporting on how various agencies have been meeting the needs of those sectors of our community that have been most affected by COVID – whether that’s in the form of regular meal deliveries, grocery shopping, psychological counseling, or simply keeping in touch with isolated individuals.
In our June 10 issue, for instance, I reported how both the Gwen Secter Centre and Jewish Child and Family Service had stepped up their efforts in response to the needs of members of our community, especially seniors. (The JCFS typically serves between 500-600 seniors a year, JCFS Executive Director Al Bennaroch noted at that time.)
In that June 10 issue, I referred to a conversation I had with Cheryl Hirsh Katz, Manager, Adult Services at JCFS, in which I asked Cheryl whether she had seen a marked increase in the agency’s seniors caseload.
Cheryl indicated that had indeed been the case – which, at that time, she explained, was primarily as a result of the Jewish Federation’s having enlisted volunteers to call seniors (and other individuals in the community who found themselves in particularly unfortunate circumstances as a result of the pandemic). Many seniors had 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.
“We have capacity to take on more clients,” Cheryl added then, and 20 more clients were, in fact, added to JCFS’s caseload to that point in June.
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”, Cheryl observed back then.
What there has been though, is “an increase in demand for emotional support,” Cheryl said.
“Individuals who have had illnesses” have found themselves isolated and, one other agonizing aspect of the isolation they’d been enduring – and has continued to be an awful predicament for anyone who may have lost a loved one during the pandemic, has been the inability to grieve normally.
“We have our friendly volunteer phone callers; also our own workers are regularly calling clients”, Cheryl said at the time, 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 call -a nd many more calls requesting support have come in since then.
That was only three months into the pandemic in what, in hindsight, seems like a relatively safe period – in comparison with the past two months, which have seen COVID rage almost without control no matter what restrictions the province might have imposed (or at least attempt to impose).
And, while JCFS was attending to – and has been continuing to attend to the psychological needs of individuals who were particularly hard hit by the isolation caused by the pandemic, Gwen Secter’s two marvelous cooks, Galina Melenevska and Cathy Koltowski, have been steadily increasing the number of meals that they have been turning out – not only for isolated seniors in our community, but for others who were anxious to receive regular cooked meals for a variety of reasons.
Here’s what I wrote in June about how Gwen Secter had stepped into the breach left when Meals on Wheels stopped taking new clients at the end of March due to the huge increase in requests for that service as a result of the first province-wide lockdown, which was imposed March 14: “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.”
In our July 10 issue I reported that Gwen Secter was now up to delivering 400 meals a week. As well, in conjunction with JCFS, Gwen Secter had just launched a new initiative: “The Medical Transportation for Seniors Hotline”. In that issue I wrote: “According to Becky Chisick, ‘This program is available for seniors & those with limited mobility. Call the hotline at 204-899-1696 and we will arrange safe one on one, door to door transportation to medical appointments for a subsidized rate.’
In our September issue I reported on the hiring of Danielle Tabacznik to fill the position of “Senior Concierge” at JCFS. Danielle described her duties this way: “I’ll be reaching out to seniors in the Jewish community who may or may not be isolated and who may not be connected to services. I’ll be checking in with them to make sure they’re doing okay…to see whether they do need referrals to services. I’ll also be asking them whether they’re feeling isolated, what programs or services might help them.”
The months of November and December, however, have seen a horrendous increase in the daily number of COVID cases being reported – not just here in Manitoba, but it seems throughout the globe as well (with few exceptions). And, although I’ve been in fairly regular contact with Becky Chisick, it’s been some time since I had asked her how many meals the Gwen Secter kitchen was now turning out.
When I spoke with Becky on Tuesday, December 15, she told me that Galia and Cathy (who now have a part-time assistant to help them) had turned out an astounding 606 meals the previous week. So – in nine short months, the Gwen Secter kitchen has gone from producing 60 meals a week for delivery to over 600 meals a week!
I suppose it’s easy to get distracted by the numbers: Gwen Secter now producing over 600 meals a week for delivery; 195 additional cases for JCFS. But let’s remember: Those numbers represent members of our community who are most in need of assistance. We’re extremely fortunate that our Jewish community has developed a sophisticated infrastructure capable of meeting the needs of those less fortunate – and that the organizations primarily tasked with funding the organizations that are attending to the needs of those most in need of help have also risen to the challenge, especially the Jewish Foundation and the Jewish Federation – together with so many members of our community who have stepped up with increased financial support.
Given that we’re nearing the end of 2020, however, I thought it appropriate to speak with someone who has found himself coordinating a very important component of our community’s response to the COVID pandemic: Al Bennaroch, Executive Director of Jewish Child and Family Service.
Al took some time from his very busy schedule to discuss the pressures he’s witnessed in his job since the end of March – and how JCFS has been handling the increased workload that’s come with having to attend to the terrible psychological toll that COVID has exacted on so many of us.
I said to Al that the last time I had spoken with him was in the spring. I wondered whether there “has been much of an increase in JCFS’s client load?”
He responded: “It depends on the program.” As we were talking, he said he was going to run a program on his computer to give some comparative figures.
“Let’s go back to April 1st,” he said. “I’ll run it from April 1st to today (Dec. 18) and we’ll take a look at what our caseload numbers look like in terms of new intakes.”
After running the program Al offered the following information: “We’ve had 195 new cases in all areas. Typically we might see on average five new cases a month. (The 195 new cases represent an average of over 20 new cases a month.) “Most of those have been in areas that require emotional support.
“Our counselling program, for example, has seen 45 new cases. We’ve seen 33 older adult new cases…nine Holocaust survivors”- who weren’t previously clients, have been added to JCFS’s client list…Addictions – we’ve had four new cases.
“Our aging mental health program – which is seniors living with a mental health issue – we’ve had six new cases in that area.”
“We’ve had seven people who have approached us for financial assistance,” Al noted, but then he added this observation: “My counterparts across the country (in other Jewish family service agencies) have not seen a huge increase in requests for financial support – other than the homeless situation in Toronto. They have a big Jewish homeless situation.
“I think that our federal government has done just enough – with programs like CERB, that have been enough to tide people over.
“A lot of American agencies are saying that they have seen an increase (in requests for financial assistance).” Al suggested that’s a reflection of the different American political system.
“Our employment support program has seen 25 new cases – that’s for newcomers mostly, although it also includes some people who have been laid off during the pandemic,” he noted.
There are also newcomers to the city – who have been continuing to arrive (even during the pandemic – something we noted in our Dec. 9 issue when we quoted Elaine Goldstine, CEO of the Jewish Federation, as saying that 27 new families had arrived in Winnipeg since the start of the pandemic).
I turned the subject to the high number of deaths that we’ve been witnessing in the Jewish community, especially in the past two months – as well as the community at large. While certainly a significant number of deaths are attributable to COVID (11 at the Simkin Centre, for instance, although one of those deaths occurred in a hospital, not in the centre itself), looking at Chesed Shel Emes’s database, there have already been 146 deaths as of the beginning of January – and not all Jews who pass away are taken to Chesed Shel Emes.
I wondered whether social isolation has been a contributing factor in some of those deaths, especially in personal care homes such as the Simkin Centre.
While Al suggested that the analysis hasn’t been done yet as to whether depression resulting from isolation has been a significant factor in the number of deaths, he did say that “We’ve been working with Simkin. We’re going to offer supports to families that have lost someone at Simkin due to COVID. We want to see whether they want to avail themselves of it.”
Al added that one of the responsibilities of JCFS is to offer help to the entire community, including other Jewish agencies. “That could mean supporting the staff of organizations that are stressed at this time.”
On that point I wondered whether JCFS still has a full complement of staff.
“We’ve had to reduce the hours of some people…there was a fledgling executive assistant – she was a student. We laid her off; she was fine with that.
“Essentially we’ve been ramping up some of our staff” (including the senior concierge position referenced earlier.)
“A lot of our older adult cases have come to us through the senior concierge position,” Al explained.
He noted, as well, that plans are afoot to send students into the community in January, wearing full Personal Protective Equipment, to help train seniors in the use of iPads. “We just put out an order for an additional 10-15 iPads that we’re going to get out into the community,” Al said.
“I have a plan where we can expand our volunteer coordination components so that we can take on more volunteers and perform more outreach to people,” Al observed.
I asked how many phone caller volunteers there are right now?
“Right now I think we have 15-17 active phone caller volunteers,” Al answered. “If that’s something we can expand beyond the walls of JCFS clientele – I’m going to explore that. In this day and age phone calls are the best we can do – until we can reinstate face to face visits.
“Of course, we’re prioritizing like we did in the spring,” Al continued. “We’re prioritizing the most vulnerable, the most at risk. Those are: the elderly, clients living with mental health issues, and clients living with addiction issues.”
Speaking of addiction issues, Al noted that “we’re no different than the rest of the world. We’re seeing a rise in opiate use – because that’s the drug that’s available. We’re seeing a rise in alcohol use.
“Anecdotally, we’re seeing a rise in domestic violence…A lot of other Jewish communities, for instance Hamilton, have seen a sharp rise in domestic violence – directly proportional to the degree of lockdown… We’re seeing more tensions rising with parenting issues,” he also observed.
Something else that I suggested to Al I had found when I wrote my article in June about how JCFS was helping various members of the community was that some of the individuals with whom I spoke back then might be described as being “on the periphery of the community”. Some of them had recently moved back to Winnipeg after being away for years, others had never really been involved much with the Jewish community, per se. I said that, while each of the individuals with whom I spoke back then was quite appreciative of the assistance rendered by JCFS, I wondered whether it was Al’s impression that more individuals who might also be considered on the periphery of the community had been availing themselves of the various forms of assistance rendered by JCFS?
Al responded that “the Jewish Federation has a pretty robust data base. Unlike a city like Toronto – it’s hard to hide in Winnipeg if you’re Jewish – someone knows someone who knows someone.
“Look, as of today we have 2262 cases at JCFS. We’re looking at 5900 people altogether. We’re talking 40% of our community that somehow gets impacted by our work. If we’re helping mum and dad, and they have three kids at home, the kids are being impacted by the help.”
I asked about newcomers to our community, saying that many of them wouldn’t have the family support networks that long-established members of our community would have – that could provide both financial and emotional support. I wondered whether JCFS had seen any sort of an increase in requests for assistance from newcomers as a result?
“I don’t know,” Al answered. “I’d have to dig deeper in the statistics.”
“Are they aware of the services you provide?” I asked.
“Oh yes. We have ramped up outreach to clients in every area, including our newcomer area.
He added this observation: “The pandemic has created new problems, but the old problems don’t go away either.
“But, the beauty of our community is that we’ve received many calls from people saying: ‘I’m really worried about so and so. Can you do anything to help?’ And we reach out to those people.
“Sure, there are some people who fall through the cracks, but our goal is to catch as many of them as we can before they fall too far.”
“Is it predominantly seniors we’re talking about here?” I asked.
“So far, yes,” Al said. “When I look at our numbers our highest areas of growth have been in counseling – but that’s open to all members of the community. But our senior program has had 33 new cases since April.”
Yet, other areas within JCFS’s mandate have commanded more attention as well. For instance, Al noted that “we had our clients in the mental health program not attending doctor’s appointments. We were trying to get to the bottom of why. The theme that kept running through was ‘We’re too anxious to take the bus – even with precautions’. So, they were actually avoiding doctors’ appointments and, in turn, getting bloodwork done, getting new prescriptions – which, in turn, was further destabilizing.
“So, we were able to get some money through a directed gift through the (Jewish) Foundation to cover off on cab rides for people to get to their appointments.”
“If there’s a will, there’s a way, and we want to get people through these challenging times and get them the service that they require.”
Finally, I asked whether there’s anything new to report on finding a second location for JCFS – a project which has been ongoing for more than a year. While Al did say that they’re “continuing to press forward on feasibility and costs,” there won’t likely be anything more to report on the subject until the spring.”
If you would like to contact either JCFS or the Gwen Secter Centre to find out more about help they are able to provide, the JCFS phone number is 204-477-7430, while the Gwen Secter Centre’s phone number is 204-339-1701.
Local News
Orri clementine oranges from Israel now available in Winnipeg
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted April 3) For years many Winnipeggers made a habit of buying delicious Jaffa oranges from Israel, both because they were so delicious, also to support Israel. Those oranges used to be commonly available in many stores during the winter months, but as the years passed, it became increasingly difficult to find them.
Often groups of individuals would get together and place special orders for Jaffa oranges that could be brought into stores like the former Stewart’s Fruit & Deli on Grant Avenue. I remember asking the owners of Stewart’s – Frida and Aaron Herskovits, whether they could bring in Jaffa oranges, but over the years they told me that they found it was increasingly difficult to find a wholesaler that carried Jaffa oranges.
One of the reasons was that oranges from other countries, including South Africa, Chile, Spain, Morocco, and occasionally Mexico, were much cheaper than Jaffa oranges, so wholesalers simply stopped ordering them.
But last week I was contacted by a friend who told me that he found oranges from Israel in FoodFare on Portage Avenue – of all places. Now, I don’t want to get political, but FoodFare is owned by the Zeid family – and the Zeids haven’t exactly been huge supporters of Israel. So, I was somewhat surprised to learn that Israeli oranges were being sold in FoodFare.
When my friend sent me a picture of the bag containing the oranges, I saw that the name on the bag was “Orri.” I had never heard of Orri oranges, so I asked my friend how they tasted ?
“Absolutely delicious,” came the reply. But I’ve avoided shopping at FoodFare ever since October 7, 2023 when members of the Zeid family established themselves as staunch critics of Israel. And so, I didn’t head down to FoodFare myself to buy a bag of Orri oranges.
Lo and behold, I was in Superstore on Kenaston the other day and what do I see prominently featured right in the front of the store, but bags of Orri oranges – at the very reasonable price of $6.99 for a 907 gram bag. I bought a bag, brought them home, peeled one – and was in heaven! It was the most delicious clementine orange I had ever tasted.
But how come I had never heard the name “Orri” before? I wondered. So, I did some research -and here’s what I came up with, from the Orri website:
“Few people know that the original Jaffa Orri has a long history of nearly 30 years. The project was initiated in 1989 as a collaborative effort at Israel’s world renowned Agricultural Research Organization, the Volcani Center. The extensive research led by leading citrus breeders and botanists managed to develop an exceptional lineup of mandarin cultivars that hit their objectives. The new cultivars were planted in experimental plots across the country, and with results being better than anticipated, the rest is history.
“The later crowned “mandarin king” made its market debut in the early 2000s, quickly taking the Israeli market by storm. Despite accelerated orchards planting efforts, consumers simply couldn’t get enough, and demand kept falling short of supply. Year after year, as yields increased, Orri remained the premium brand of choice.
“Today, Orri’s popularity has been steadily climbing in markets such as France, UK, Holland, Germany, Russia, Canada and the US, and lately also China and Japan. While Israel remains the largest single exporter of Orri mandarins, licensed growers now exist in Spain, South Africa, South America and the US.”
Further research determined that “High sugar levels, low acidity, bright orange color, and a long shelf life, making them excellent for shipping.”
“Late-season harvest runs from January through early summer, ensuring availability when other mandarins are out of season.”
Finally, when it comes to availability in Winnipeg, here’s what I found: “Orri mandarins are available for purchase and delivery at major Canadian retailers like Loblaws (2 lb bags), Real Canadian Superstore, and No Frills. They are also available for delivery through Weee!, Uber Eats, and Instacart. Orri mandarins, known for being seedless, easy to peel, and very sweet, are usually in season from January to May.”
Local News
Jewish community leaders to take to the stage in new Theatre Centre, Manitoba Bar Association fundraising musical
By MYRON LOVE For more than 36 years a staple of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre season has been the RMTC’s annual joint production with the Manitoba Bar Association – featuring a cast composed entirely of Bar Association members. This year’s fundraising production is “Crazy for You” – a delightful romp in the style of 1930s musicals.
I well remember the Rainbow Stage production of the musical in 1999 with many memorable Gershwin Brothers’ songs – tunes such as: “I Got Rhythm,” “Naughty Baby,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” “Embraceable You,” “But Not for Me,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Introduced on Broadway in 1992, “Crazy for You” is based loosely on the Gershwins’ hit 1930 musical “Girl Crazy”.
The plot, typical of 1930s era musicals is about a young New York banker, Bobby Child, who is sent to Deadrock, Nevada, to foreclose on a rundown theatre. In Deadrock, Bobby falls for spunky Polly Baker, the theatre owner’s daughter. But Polly takes an instant dislike to the city slicker, so Bobby vows – through cunning, razzmatazz and a hilarious case of mistaken identity – to win Polly’s heart and save the theatre.
“Crazy for You” is a fantastic musical,” says an enthusiastic Gail Asper, who plays the role of Billy’s mother in the show. “I am very happy that we are putting it on this year. It has great dance numbers. Who would have thought there would be so many terrific dancers in our legal community?”
Asper, a leading patron of the arts (among her many contributions to the community) , has been involved with the annual legal stage production from its inception. “It was Steven Schipper’s idea,” Asper recalls. (Schipper served as RMTC’s artistic director from 1989 to 2019.) “He pitched it to the board who thought it was a great idea. Board member Jean Giguere was tasked with bring the idea to fruition. Jean and I are still great friends.”
Asper reports that “Crazy for You” is the 16th RMTC/MBA show in which she has had the pleasure of performing. “This is one of the best fundraising ventures I have ever been involved with,” she says.
(Her one regret though is that she isn’t a dancer.)
The cast also includes a second prominent member of our Jewish community in the person of Mr. Justice David Kroft (who was appointed to the Manitoba Court of Appeal in 2023). Kroft plays the role of Bela Zangler, the impresario (think Florenz Zeigfield) who is producing the show.
Kroft is a past president of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (following in the footsteps of his late father, Guy, and older brother, Jonathan). He has been a Combined Jewish Appeal canvasser for more than 25 years. In 2024, he was presented with the Max and Mollie Shore Memorial Award, which is given annually to an individual who has distinguished him or herself through long-standing leadership and dedication to the Combined Jewish Appeal and commitment to the principles and goals of the Federation.
For Kroft, this is his ninth Bar Association show. Last year, he reports, he was in the RMTC/MBA production of the comedy “The Man who Came to Dinner”.
Although, Kroft notes, his theatrical experience previous to the RMTC/MBA productions were high school operettas, he says that he has really enjoyed the opportunity to strut the boards.
Added to the meaning of the production this year is that Kroft is currently RMTC Board Chair. “This is one of our major annual fundraising initiatives,” he says in his role as Board Chair.
One other member of our Jewish community who will be in “Crazy for You” is Benji Greenberg, who will be making her sixth appearance in the annual fundraiser. She says that she has the role of Elaine, one of the show girls.
“I love the Gershwin music,” she says.
I wrote about Greenberg last year in regard to her participation for the first time in the annual Winnipeg Music Festival competitions. In high school (Grant Park) and university (the U of W), she notes, she was involved in performing arts study and productions.
She was called to the Bar in 2015. For the past four years, she has been working as an investigator for the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth.
A couple of years ago, she decided to take proper singing lessons. She credits her teacher, Geneva Halverson, for encouraging her to enter the Music Festival competition,
“Crazy for You” is scheduled to run from May 5 to 9 at the Tom Hendry Warehouse. Tickets can be purchased through RMTC. If you have a friend in the show, on the RMTC board or staff member, you can help them win a prize by buying a ticket linked to their name using the list online.
Sponsorships and advertising would also be welcomed.
Local News
Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada panel highlights contributions of Jewish women in building our community
By MYRON LOVE For much of the Jewish community’s early history in Winnipeg, it was men who were acknowledged as our community leaders – as was common in society in general – while the work of scores of women working diligently behind the scenes was largely overlooked. While women’s organizations such as ORT, Hadassah, National Council of Jewish Women and many others raised money to help the needy in our community and Israel, noted Marsha Cowan, it was usually men who made the decisions.
On Tuesday, March 17, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada hosted a panel discussion: “Let Her Works Praise: Panel on the role of Women in Jewish Communal Life” (which was pretty well attended considering the wintry conditions) – seeking to show our community’s appreciation for the work of countless women over the years behind the scenes, as well as the growing number of women now working side by side with men in leadership roles.
Marsha Cowan – one of the three panelists, has straddled both worlds – as a leader in National Council of Jewish Women, and later as the first woman to serve as CEO of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.
Cowan began her presentation by reminiscing about her time at Peretz School and the old YMHA. Her first vehicle of choice as a volunteer was with the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). The latter’s major project was the Golden Age Club – Canada’s original drop-in centre for (largely) Jewish seniors. For years, the club operated out of a building near Salter and Selkirk in what used to be the heavily Jewish North End.
“After 40 years,” she recalled, “we realized that we needed a new building.”
The site for the newly renamed Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre was a former tire store at Smithfield and Main. Cowan chaired the successful campaign to raise the funds for the transformation of the building into the Gwen Secter Centre.
Cowan subsequently served as Vice-President of the National Council of Jewish Women. She also served as President of Jewish Child and Family Service;, Vice-President of the Women’s Division, Combined Jewish Appeal; and, most recently, as the first woman to be President and CEO of The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.
““I remember walking into my first board meeting at the Foundation and finding myself one of only two women among 18 men,” she recalled. “But it was never a problem for me working in male-oriented organizations and institutions.”
One of the first things that she did as a board member though, was to push to establish the Foundation’s Women’s Endowment Fund in order to give women an opportunity to make philanthropic decisions involving the distribution of funding.
The fund, she noted, started with $20,000 contributed by about 150 women. Today, 32 years later, the Women’s Endowment Fund has a capital base of $2.4 million and distributes more than $100,000 a year to women’s charities.
In her presentation, Susan Turner began by recalling growing up in a traditional home in the North End, her early schooling, Shabbats spent with her father, Leible Hershfield, at the Rosh Pina Synagogue, and going to the YMHA, where Leible was the Athletic Director. The family moved south in 1958 so that her maternal grandfather, Lazar Tuberman, who lived with them, could be closer to the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, where he was the shames. In her teen years and then at university, Turner sang in the synagogue choir.
A lifelong professional visual artist in printmaking and in video, Turner has worked in a number of positions – by turn as a school librarian, an editor, a graphic designer, an art instructor, a lecturer at the School of Art, a researcher and curator in the area of multiculturalism, an exhibits curator and designer, a gourmet pastry chef for restaurants, and as a volunteer in the arts community.
She noted that it was her mother, Babe, who got her involved working on projects in the Jewish community. “For many years Babe was Executive Director of the Jewish Historical Society. In the late 1970s, she recruited my husband Myron and me to be on the Programming and the Archives committees, and we remained active in one form or another for close to 40 years.”
“From 1999 to 2004,” Turner said, “I was the Coordinator of Volunteers at the Sharon Home, where I learned so much about ageing, dementia, and respectful elder-care.”
In 2005, at the behest of Stan Carbone, JHC Programs and Exhibitions Director, she began working as curator and exhibitions designer at the Jewish Heritage Centre. Some of the major exhibits she worked on were “The Jewish Wedding”, “Manitoba Synagogues”, “Jews in Manitoba’s Garment Industry”, and “Chief Justice Samuel Freedman.”
In addition to her work with the JHC, Turner noted that she and Myron volunteered through Jewish Child and Family Service with newcomers from Argentina and with Yazidi refugees. “However much Myron and I were able to assist them, our own lives were enriched by the experience,” she added.
Turner also showed images of her current art as well as a poetic video she produced using voice, music, image, and Yiddish about the final days of her mother Babe’s life.
Leah Craven, the third member of the panel, is representative of a younger generation of women who have assumed leadership roles in our community. A lawyer by training, she currently serves as President of the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, Winnipeg Section. She is also a Board member of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba – serving on their Governance and Grants Committees. She has previously been actively involved with Shalom Square, Gray Academy of Jewish Education, Congregation Etz Chayim, and Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University.
“I was raised in a traditional Jewish home where volunteering was simply part of life,” she recalled. “My (late) father, Mel Craven, was deeply involved in community work, and my mother, Reva, continues to volunteer actively. In our home, contributing wasn’t an ‘extra.’ It was just… part of being Jewish.
“As the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I grew up with a strong awareness of how vital community support systems are,” she continued. “I understood early that people struggle — and that communal care matters. I also understood I was fortunate, and that being able to give comes with responsibility.”
Craven recounted her first independent volunteer experience. While still in elementary school (Ramah), her father asked if she would teach basic Hebrew to a colleague’s church youth group.
“I took it very seriously,” she said. I made a Hebrew alphabet chart with transliterations and created name cards in Hebrew letters for each participant. It was my first time in a church and it was a welcoming experience, genuinely enjoyable. Looking back, I learned an early lesson. I stepped forward because someone asked me. Someone opened a door and trusted me.”
That pattern, Craven noted, has occurred repeatedly throughout her life.
In her university years, she was active in Jewish student organizations, Craven said. She was involved in advocacy for Soviet Jewry and spoke out against antisemitism.
“At university, I learned that community life isn’t only programming and events,” she observed. “It’s visibility, engagement, and standing up when it matters.”
As a working mother, she has continued to show up for our community – volunteering over the years at Folklorama (Shalom Square) and synagogue. “Helping to set up, clean up and greeting people (at shul) may not be glamorous, but it is foundational,” she noted. “Community is sustained by everyday acts of showing up.”
Craveb pointed out that formal barriers for women have changed over generations. “Many women are now invited to leadership tables,” she noted. “We are asked to chair, lead, speak and make decisions. That progress is real and important.
“At the same time, many women still carry the day‑to‑day responsibility for home and family,” Craven added. “As well, single mothers and women without job flexibility often face additional challenges in participating in volunteer roles.”
Craven said the biggest challenge for women volunteering in community is “capacity”. “In my experience that looks different at each stage of life”, she observed. “As a student, I had to balance community involvement with academics. As a young professional, there weere early career demands. As a parent, I sought involvement that fits naturally into family life – such as children’s programming at synagogue or volunteering at school.”
It was during that time – when her kids were babies – that Craven joined National Council. “I welcomed the opportunity to be part of a Jewish women’s organization dedicated to service, education,and social action,” she said.
Crave also noted the help her own children have given her. She would bring them to meetings and on deliveries. When they were a little older, they helped sorting ribbons and wrapping paper, stuffing envelopes and assembling mishloach manot.
“These small tasks mattered,” Craven said. “It allowed me to stay engaged and my children learned that community involvement isn’t separate from daily life,” she added. “It’s part of how we live — for me, it’s part of being Jewish.”
The balance between work, family and community is never fully resolved, Craven observed. “Involvement looks different at different times,” she noted. “Sometimes it’s leading. It can be making a phone call, delivering a meal, sitting beside somebody and saying – there is a place for you here – or just showing up.
“It often just begins because someone asks, invites or makes room.”
In conclusion, Craven expressed gratitude to ” the women who paved the way” and to “a community that values women’s leadership”.