By MYRON LOVE  A chance meeting on an airplane almost 30 years ago between former Lieutenannt-Governor Janice Filmon – at that time the wife of then-Manitoba premier Gary Filmon, and a Jewish businessman from Argentina, planted a seed that has grown into a magnificent tree that has revitalized our Jewish community.

As a result of that meeting, our once declining community has been enriched by an estimated 6,500 newcomers (most of whom have stayed) from many different countries.
To recap, the businessman was looking to immigrate to Toronto. Filmon persuaded him to consider Winnipeg instead. He was impressed by what he saw and suggested that the community send representatives to Buenos Aires to meet with other Argentine Jewish families who were considering leaving.
Thus was born GrowWinnipeg, an initiative led in its early years by Larry Hurtig – then the president of the Federation, and Evelyn Hecht, who became the principal contact for the newcomers.  Our community opened our arms in welcome to the new arrivals, hosting them in our homes, and helping them become acclimatized to their new society.
After Evelyn Hecht retired in 2006, she was succeeded as director of GrowWinnipeg by her assistant, Dalia Szpiro, who was herself a relatively new immigrant to Winnipeg.  Szpiro,  her husband, Eduardo Borovich and young daughter, Yael, came here in 2002 from Uruguay,
“Evelyn was a joy to work with,” Szpiro says. “I learned through her the generosity, openness and welcoming spirit that our Jewish Community has. Her door was always open.  I have tried to follow her example.”
Szpiro is being assisted in her work by Irina Gelzin and  recently hired volunteer coordinator Belin Seloni.
 “What we offer as a community to newcomers is unique,” Szpiro pointed out in an earlier interview.  “One of the requirements to apply for permanent residency is an exploratory visit to Manitoba. We have a great number of volunteers who connect with the exploratory visitors and their families.  We work to build contacts between prospective newcomers and members of the community. We try to match new families with people with similar backgrounds.  They start to build their network before moving here, so when they move here they feel at home. Candidates are connected to all our organizations and services including JCFS, Rady JCC, Gray Academy, synagogues, professional regulatory bodies, and other relevant contacts.”
On Monday, August 26, Szpiro and the Federation showed its appreciation to the many community volunteers who have helped make the GrowWinnipeg initiative a success with a social evening at the Asper Campus that attracted about 130 people – a mix of locally-born host families, long-established immigrants, and recently arrived newcomers.
The evening was light on speeches with more focus on socializing and enjoying the music from Muse On, a live band, at the outdoor venue. “The members of the band,” Szpiro notes, are also volunteers who meet exploratory visitors and volunteered that evening as well.
 
In her remarks, Federation President Paula Parks spoke of the dreams and aspirations which newcomers to our community have brought with them.  “I want to thank all of you who have extended a welcoming hand over the years to our new arrivals,” she said. 
“Winnipeg is not just a good place to raise a family. I is also a great place to call home.”
Among the most recent arrivals who were out for the event was Eyal Braunstein, formerly of Sderot, who landed with his wife and baby just five months ago.   “We really appreciate the quiet,” says the mechanical engineer.  “It is relaxing and people have been really welcoming.”
Itai and Elona David and their four children – the oldest of whom is in first year at the University of Manitoba – have been here for three years.   Originally from Hadera in west central Israel, the software engineer says that he appreciates the support from our Jewish community. 
He adds that a lot of Israelis may be interested in moving to Winnipeg.
Good friends Alex Hadish and Dima Vainer have been here for 12 and 14 years respectively.  Vainer is originally from Sderot and Hadish from Ukraine by way of Israel.  Both work for the same IT company.
Hadish says that he and his family came for reasons of security and opportunity, Vainer and his family for a sense of safety. “This is a better place to raise a family,” he says.
Like Hadish, Asia Shvarzman is also originally from the former Soviet Union by way of Israel.  The project manager in charge of research and development with Gordon Construction came to Winnipeg 14 years ago after having lived in Haifa for 19 years.  In addition to her work here, Shvartzman, who has a Ph.D., is an associate professor of Computer Science at the Jerusalem College of Technology.
“I teach carbon construction and technology,” she notes.  “I return to Israel twice a year.  One area I focus on is building a strong working relationship in my field between Canada and Israel.”
Of the newcomers that I had the pleasure of meeting at the social evening, David and Sandra Brunstein have been here the longest.  The couple arrived here from Buenos Aires in 2005.
“With the birth of our daughter, our view of the world changed,” says David, a software developer.  (Sandra works with refugees and new immigrants).  “We wanted to go to a place that would offer a better environment in which to raise our daughter.”
They learned about the GrowWinnipeg initiative and liked what they heard.   “We got a lot of support from the Jewish community – especially from Evelyn Hecht,” Sandra recalls.
Once they were established here, David and Sandra began to give back – hosting other prospective immigrants – who came on exploratory visits  – and sharing their experiences.
I was surprised to run into David and Sherrill Levene at the event.  I have known them for years – but I did not know that they have been among the members of our community who have been opening their home to newcomers – something , Sherrill reports, that they have been doing since the mid-1980s – well before the GrowWinnipeg initiative came  into existence. 
“I was a volunteer with the Jewish Child and Family Service when the  first wave of immigrants from Russia arrived here,” Sherrill recounts.  “That was how we began hosting newcomers.”
David adds that, over the years, they have hosted between 50 and 60 different exploratory visitors and newcomer families.
“We have been glad to be able to help,” Sherrill says  She could be speaking for our community as a whole when she added that “our lives have been enriched by all those friends we have made through the GrowWinnipeg initiative.”     
“While most of our new families are now coming from Israel,” Szpiro noted in that earlier interview,  “we are also still getting a lot of inquiries from Mexico, Brazil Argentina, Turkey, Hungary, South Africa, Colombia, Ukraine and Russia.”
As for herself and her family, she and Eduardo are satisfied that they made the right move.  “Winnipeg not only offers a lot for families but also for young adults,” she says.  “There are so many opportunities for them.”