Local News
Jewish Foundation holds online AGM – announces a further $400,000 to be allocated to local Jewish organizations on top of $200,000 already given
By BERNIE BELLAN
As is typical these days, the Annual General Meeting of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, which would normally have been held in front of at least a few people, was held online via Zoom instead.
(Let’s not kid ourselves though: Annual General Meetings of Jewish organizations don’t usually attract much in the way of a crowd unless they’re handing out a lot of awards.) The Jewish Foundation held its AGM on Wednesday, June 17, emanating largely from the home of Richard Yaffe, Board Chair of the Foundation. Although it was possible to see who else was watching, the faces of only a very few individuals were made visible. (I always get a kick out of seeing people in their homes during these get-togethers. Everyone dresses casually and it’s fun seeing into everyone’s home and what they have in the background. I think it’s the way all AGMs should be held in the future.)
When he began proceedings shortly after 5:00 pm, Yaffe welcomed everyone who was watching, but he also indicated that no questions would be allowed until the very end of the meeting. Further, questions were to be sent in via chat. Would anyone be surprised to learn there were no questions asked?
I don’t know about anyone else who was watching (and from the names that were visible on the screen, they seemed to be mostly representatives of other Jewish organizations), but I sure would have liked to ask for details about how much assistance the Foundation has given to each local Jewish organization that has been allocated emergency funding during the pandemic and how much each of the organizations that will receive assistance in two more “phases” will receive. But, as I reported in the May 27 issue of this paper, the Foundation continues to maintain, as Richard Yaffe put it, that it “To be respectful of a variety of unique circumstances currently faced by individual organizations, at this time, we will leave the disclosure of the amount they received to their discretion.”
Yaffe did add that information will be made public by the Foundation in its 2020 Annual Report – so we’ll only have to wait one more year to find out how much each organization has received and will receive as a result of emergency funding during the pandemic – unless I can get each of the organizations to tell me how much they received back in April in Phase 1 of the Foundation’s emergency funding. I should add that I already know how much some organizations received, but it would be unfair to disclose that information unless I can reveal how much each of the 28 organizations that received funding received.
Turning to the 2019 Annual Report, however, here are some of the highlights, as reported by Dan Blankstein, JFM Treasurer and John Diamond, JFM CEO:
• the Foundation distributed in excess of $5.2 million to the community, $700,000 greater than the previous year.
• During 2019, both individual donors and organizations continued to significantly support the Foundation with endowment contributions in excess of $5.6 million
• The Foundation’s endowment fund’s net assets increased by 14% year-over-year, to more than $137 million
• Gifts to organizational endowments comprised $1.9 million of the 2019 gifts representing an 8.0% increase over the previous year. This increment will result in an additional $80,000 distributed into Winnipeg’s Jewish community annually.
• The performance of the investment portfolio for 2019 was 15.34% before fees. The 5-year and 10-year returns were 7.49% and 7.93%, respectively, before fees. 2019 was a “good year” in terms of investment performance.
The Annual Report went on to note other significant milestones reached by the Foundation in 2019:
• $1,228,930 was distributed in 2019 to Jewish organizations through their organizational endowments
• Since 1964 , the Foundation has distributed $72,676,844 in grants
• 17 planned gifts were realized, totaling $2,134,086
• $176,000 in scholarships were awarded to 76 students
• $33,680 in camperships were given
Of the over $5.2 million that were given in grants, $4,341,498 were designated grants (meaning the donors had specifically designated the recipients of the grants), while $875,745 were undesignated grants.
In discussing the overall performance of the Foundation in 2019, Richard Yaffe observed that “the work we did last year (2019) has put us in a strong position for the future.
“We know that 2020 is destined to be a very difficult year, but in no way will it be a step back” for the Foundation.
With specific reference to the emergency allocations that the Foundation has been able to give – not only to Jewish organizations, but to other community organizations as well, Yaffe explained that the Foundation’s undesignated funds have been and will continue to be crucial: “It is through these funds that the Foundation was able to respond so quickly to the pandemic,” he said.
“By the end of 2020 we will have distributed more than $750,000 in relief funding,” Yaffe added.
Yaffe described the criteria that the Foundation’s board applied when it came to allocating the $268,000 in emergency funding in Phase 1 of the emergency funding – both to Jewish and non-Jewish organizations: “Speed, efficiency, and inclusiveness”.
“Each organization’s financial report and operational expenses dictated how much each organization received,” he said.
In addition to the $68,000 that was given to four community organizations (Agape Table, Winnipeg Harvest, The Main Street Project, and Siloam Mission), an anonymous donor came forward with a further $34,000 gift that was added to the $68,000; thus, the total given to those four organizations came to $102,000.
As well, Phase 1 also included the spring distribution of $30,000 in Women’s Endowment Fund Grants to five organizations “that continue to support our most vulnerable women and children: North End Women’s Resource Centre, Willow Place, Salvation Army, Alpha House, and the West Central Resource Centre”.
There will be two further phases of emergency funding for Jewish organizations, Yaffe noted. In Phase 2, $200,000 will be distributed to 14 Jewish organizations. (Once we are told which organizations have received funding we will publish that information.)
There will be a third phase of emergency funding, Yaffe said, and information about that third and final phase of emergency funding “will be disclosed shortly”.
A recording of the entire 2020 Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Annual General Meeting can be found on the Foundation’s YouTube page.
Local News
Winnipeg-born Elliot Lazar to star as Paul Simon in “The Simon & Garfunkel Story” at Centennial Concert Hall
By BERNIE BELLAN Elliot Lazar’s career has long been chronicled in the pages of The Jewish Post & News. Do a search for his name in our “Search Archives” button and you will find a multitude of stories about Elliot from the time he was five years old.
A talented singer, musician, and musical arranger, also a graduate of Gray Academy, the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music, and the Boston Conservatory, Elliot has appeared many times in Winnipeg, including most recently last summer in Rainbow Stage’s production of “Rent.”
He’s been constantly busy – as a review of some of his past acting credits reveals. Last season alone, in addition to his performing in “Rent,” Elliot also appeared in the National Tour of “Fiddler on the Roof,” and “The Band’s Visit” (Huntington/Speakeasy Stage).
We’re excited to announce that Elliot will be appearing in Winnipeg for one night only, May 21, starring as Paul Simon in “The Simon & Garfunkel Story.”
Here’s Elliot’s own story about his growing up in Winnipeg:
“I grew up in Garden City, attended Gray Academy (K-12) and majored in vocal performance at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music. I lived in Winnipeg until I was 22, so I’m pretty connected with the arts scene there still. The venue we’re playing, the Centennial Concert Hall, I was last seen in Guys and Dolls in concert with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Rainbow Stage (2019), and before that I sang with the Manitoba Opera Chorus in 3 productions there. My last performance in Winnipeg was in Rent with Rainbow Stage this past summer. Other local performing arts companies I have a history with there are Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Winnipeg Studio Theatre, Dry Cold Productions, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Manitoba Underground Opera, Little Opera Company, and the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. I grew up going to see shows at the Concert Hall, so it’s a wonderful full circle moment for me.”
About “The Simon & Garfunkel Story”:
Nostalgia-inducing unforgettable hits! The internationally-acclaimed hit theater show The Simon & Garfunkel Story (www.thesimonandgarfunkelstory.com) returns to the road in 2024 with a North American tour to more than 25 cities. Kicking off in Richmond, Kentucky on January 28, 2024, the immersive concert-style tribute show will recreate the magic and authenticity of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel on stage and chronicles the amazing journey shared by the iconic, GRAMMY-award winning folk-rock duo. It tells the story from their humble beginnings as Tom & Jerry, to their incredible success as one of the best-selling music groups of the ‘60s, and to their dramatic split in 1970. The Simon & Garfunkel Story culminates with the pair’s famous “The Concert in Central Park” reunion in 1981 which had more than half a million fans in attendance. Tickets are on sale now.
The show features a set list of nearly 30 songs and uses state-of-the-art video projection, photos and original film footage. A full live band will perform all of the hits including “Mrs. Robinson,” “Cecilia,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Homeward Bound” and many more complete with the unmistakably perfect harmonies that will transport audiences down memory lane.
With more than 100 million album sales since 1965, Simon & Garfunkel’s unforgettable songs and poetic lyrics poignantly captured the times made them one of the most successful folk-rock duos of all time. Over the years, they won 10 GRAMMY Awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. In 1977, the Brit Awards honored their “Bridge Over Troubled Water” album with Best International Album. In 2003, Simon & Garfunkel were awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the following year saw their “The Sound of Silence” awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.
Local News
Ida and the late Saul Alpern have donated 2 ambulances and a scooter to Magen David Adom in past 4 years
By BERNIE BELLAN Saul Alpern passed away in 2022, but before he died he and his wife Ida had decided to make Magen David Adom a major recipient of their generosity.
As Myron Love noted in an October 2020 article the Alperns had been contributing small amounts to the Canadian Magen David Adom for some time, but it was in that year they decided to donate $160,000 for the purchase of a Mobile Intensive Care Unit for Israel’s Magen David Adom.
As Myron wrote in that 2020 article, an MICUA (which is larger than an ambulance, is staffed by paramedics, and responds only to the most medically serious cases) was donated “to the people of Israel in memory of Saul Alpern’s parents and siblings who perished in the Holocaust.
“It is an expression of my love for my family and my love of Israel,” Saul Alpern said at the time.
In early 2022 the Alperns donated yet another $170,000 for the purchase of a second MICU for Magen David Adom.
Saul Alpern passed away in November 2022, but Ida Alpern has now continued the legacy of giving to Canadian Magen David Adom that she and Saul had begun several years before. Just recently Ida contributed $39,000 toward the purchase of an emergency medical scooter. According to the CMDA website, “the scooter, which is driven by a paramedic, can get through traffic faster than the Standard Ambulance or MICU and provide pre-hospital care. It contains life-saving equipment, including a defibrillator, an oxygen tank, and other essential medical equipment.”
I asked Ida whether she wanted to say anything about the motivation for her and her late husband’s support for CMDA. She wrote, “Having survived the Holocaust, and being a Zionist, Saul felt that supporting Israel was of the utmost importance.”
On May 7, CMDA will be honouring Ida and Saul z”l Alpern at a dinner and show at the Centro Caboto Centre. Another highlight that evening will be the announcement of the purchase of an ambulance for CMDA by another Winnipegger, Ruth Ann Borenstein. That ambulance will be in honour of Ruth’s late parents, Gertrude and Harry Mitchell. The evening will also commemorate the late Yoram East (aka Hamizrachi), who was a well-known figure both in Israel and here in Winnipeg.
For more information about the May 7 event go to https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/canadian-magen-david-adom-for-israel/events/cmda-winnipeg-an-evening-of-appreciation/ or to purchase tickets phone 587-435-5808 or email sfraiman@cmdai.org
Local News
Simkin Centre looking for volunteers
We received the following email from Heather Blackman, Simkin Centre Director of Volunteers & Resident Experience:
Happy Spring Everyone! Hope you all are well. We have a number of upcoming volunteer opportunities that I wanted to share with you. Please take a look at what we have listed here and let me know if you are available for any of the following. I can be reached at heather.blackman@simkincentre.ca or 204-589-9008.
Save the date! The Simkin Stroll is on June 25th this year and we need tons of volunteers to assist. This is our annual fundraiser and there is something for everyone to help with from walking with Residents in the Stroll to manning booths and tables, event set up and take down and much more. Volunteers will be needed from 3 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on this day. Come and help for the full event or for any period within that timeframe that works for you.
Resident Store – This tuck shop style cart will be up for business shortly. Residents will be assisting to stock and run the store for 2 hours 2- 3 times per week in the afternoons. Volunteer support is needed to assist residents with restocking items and monetary transactions.
Passover Volunteers
Volunteers are needed to assist with plating Seder plates for Residents (date to be determined for plating)
Volunteers are needed to assist Residents to and from Passover Services and Come and Go Teas.
Times volunteers are needed for services/teas:
April 22cnd – First Seder 1:30-3:30 p.m.
April 23rd – Passover Service Day 1 – 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
April 23rd – Second Seder – 1:30-3:30 p.m.
April 24th – Passover Service – Day 2 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
April 29th – Passover Service – 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
April 29th- Passover Tea – 1:30-3:30 p.m.
April 30th – Passover Service – 9:30 -11:30 a.m.
April 30th – Passover Tea – 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Admin/Paperwork Volunteers – Volunteers are needed to assist with filing and other administrative duties. A monthly volunteering job is also available to input information on programming into Recreation activity calendars. Support would be provided for this.
Adult Day Program – A volunteer is needed to assist with the Mondays Adult Day Program Group. A regular ongoing weekly commitment on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Assist with Recreation programming and lunch supervision for our Adult Day Program participants that come in from the community for the day.
Biking Volunteers – Take our residents out for a spin on one of our specialty mobility bicycles. Training is provided and volunteers will be needed throughout the Spring, Summer and early Fall.
With summer coming there is also opportunity to assist with outings and other outdoor programming! Please let me know if you are interested!
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