Local News
Purchase of Town Island by Nature Conservancy of Canada through the efforts of BB Camp now finalized
By BERNIE BELLAN For several years now we have been reporting on the uncertain future of Town Island, home to BB Camp, as a result of attempts by the City of Kenora to elicit interest in having that portion of the island that is not already owned by BB Camp sold. There have been many twists and turns in this story.
In February 2020 we reported on the attempt by the City of Kenora to elicit expressions of interest from anyone interested in buying that portion of Town Island that did not belong to BB Camp.
Back then we wrote about a proposed partnership between BB Camp and the Nature Conservancy of Canada in an attempt to eliminate once and for all the possibility that the City of Kenora might sell the 200 acres of Town Island that did not belong to BB Camp to a private developer who, in turn, could subdivide the island into private lots.
Here is some history of what led to the precarious situation for BB Camp, as sent to us by a group known as the “Friends of Town Island:”
“Over the last six decades, BB Camp has been fortunate to use this beautiful property. Historically, BB Camp leased Town Island from the City of Kenora and the land’s primary use arrangement continued until the mid-2000s. Since that time, this arrangement has been threatened with potentially negative consequences for BB Camp. The proposed partnership with the NCC provides a unique opportunity to protect Town Island in perpetuity for the continued use of BB Camp and its campers.
“In 2008, the City of Kenora proposed a potential development plan to subdivide the approximately 200 acres on Town Island into cottage properties or other developments. In 2014, through the efforts of the BB Camp Board of Directors and countless friends of the Camp, the Camp was able to secure and purchase our footprint on the Island (approximately 30 acres) while the remaining 200 acres of the Island would become Crown-owned land as the proceeds of a land swap program with the Province of Ontario, allowing BB Camp to continue operations as we had been for almost 60 years.”
As it turned out however, the proposed land swap between the City of Kenora and the Province of Ontario never led anywhere. As a result, we quoted from a communication received from the Friends of Town Island in January 2020: “In the fall of 2019, the City of Kenora was once again looking to use the approximately 200 acres of undeveloped land to generate revenue for the City. Though our main campsite will remain unharmed as of the 2008 purchase, the remaining land, including the nine camping areas on the “back side” of the Island, which are instrumental to our program and history, were being considered to be sold and redeveloped as cottage properties.”
In January 2020 we wrote, however, that the City of Kenora had failed to elictit a single expression of interest in purchasing the 200 acres of Town Island that it was interested in selling:
I wrot then that “I am now glad to report that, at least for the time being, the sale of Town Island has been averted – not because the City of Kenora dropped the idea of selling it; rather, it was because Kenora did not receive one single ‘expression of interest’ in buying the island, according to an email I received from Kenora’s Manager of Development Service, Adam Smith.”
In September 2021 we reported on a fundraising campaign embarked upon by BB Camp to raise $2.85 million by August 2022 to buy back part of Town Island from the City of Kenora on behalf of the Nature Conservancy of Canada
We noted then that the City of Kenora had issued a deadline to the Nature Conservancy of Canada of August 2022 to come up with $2.85 million to buy the rest of Town Island.
We wrote that “the Nature Conservancy has turned to BB Camp for help in raising the necessary funds. Following is part of a communication received from BB Camp which outlines the situation:”
“BB Camp has called Town Island home since 1954. The Island and BB Camp’s use have been threatened on several occasions over the past few decades. The City of Kenora has finally agreed to sell the “back side” of Town Island to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (“NCC”). BB Camp is partnering with the NCC to help raise the funds for the purchase. We are reaching out to you to ask for your financial support in our efforts.
“In the early months of 2020, the hard work and tireless efforts of the Friends of Town Island, an advocacy group made up of concerned and committed cottagers, and camp alumni (from both BB Camp, and our neighbours at YMCA’s Camp Stephens), resulted in a deal struck between the City of Kenora and the NCC for the NCC to purchase the land from the City. The NCC is Canada’s largest environmental NGO with a main mission to conserve and protect natural lands by their purchase or by the establishment of conservation easements.
“The agreement between the City of Kenora and the NCC is contingent on the NCC raising the $2.85m required for the purchase and associated administrative costs, which include funds for long-term maintenance of the property and payment of property taxes. These funds are required before August 2022 or the lands revert back to the City of Kenora. It is unlikely that the agreement can be completed without the support and assistance of BB Camp, especially in this case given the short timelines. The NCC and BB Camp are entering into a memorandum of understanding to confirm the mutual commitment and intent to work together to raise funds and protect BB Camp’s access to the Island. In the event the purchase from the City of Kenora is not completed, the NCC will return any and all donations made as part of this fundraising effort.”
The campaign to raise $2.85 million was led by Anita Wortzman and Leah Leibl.
This past week we received the news that the fundraising campaign had achieved its goal. We received this communication, which explained that the campaign had culminated in success:
“Our plans for Town Island have been realized and we are very pleased to share with you that the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) finally purchased the remaining 82 hectares of Town Island from the City of Kenora on July 14, 2022!
“Thank you to everyone who supported the efforts to secure the conservation of Town Island for the future. The combined forces of the NCC, our many lake neighbours, our valued donors, including the Asper Foundation, and the community at large, were able to meet our fundraising deadline and protect Town Island for the future. It has been a long-term goal of BB Camp to secure the preservation of Town Island. We acknowledge this monumental event as a path to honouring the principle of Tikkun Olam.
“The successful purchase allows BB Camp, in partnership with the NCC, to continue to maintain and expand our current programs and provide for the education and stewardship of the Island.”
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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