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Zac Weinberg: Former Winnipegger working to make life for the homeless a little easier

By MYRON LOVE Zac Weinberg firmly believes that everyone should give back to their community to help the most vulnerable among us if they are able. And, with the creation of the ZacPac Project four years ago, the young former Winnipegger is demonstrating that he is – in the words of that old expression: “putting his money where his mouth is.”
The aim of the ZacPac Project, the 15-year-old son of Marty and Michelle Weinberg points out, is to provide people experiencing homelessness with a collection of essential items that will make their lives a little easier.
Originally from Winnipeg, Weinberg and his family moved to Vancouver seven years ago. “Vancouver is a beautiful city,” he observes, “but I was really astonished to see so many people experiencing homelessness in a city that is so affluent. I was determined to try to do something about it.”
The former Gray Academy and St. John’s Ravenscourt student first contacted people and organizations working to help unsheltered individuals in order to learn all that he could about the issue.
“The more I learned – for example, that over 42% of people experiencing homelessness suffer from some form of mental illness – the more passionate I became,” he recalls. “I asked these organizations to give me a list of items they thought their clients most needed.”
Armed with that information, Weinberg – at the tender young age of 11 – established an initiative under the umbrella of his family’s Weinberg Foundation and went to work. The first round of ZacPacs went out to 2,200 people experiencing homelessness in Vancouver in March 2020. Each pack included 12 essential items: a pair of socks, non-perishable food items, a tarp, a rain poncho, an umbrella, a reusable water bottle, a scarf, a transit ticket, winter gloves, a toothbrush, a toque, and emergency blanket – all delivered in a 20L dry bag.
“The waterproof dry bags, he points out, are durable and can be reused by our recipients to store some of their possession,’ the founder of the ZacPac Project adds.
Each ZacPac, he notes, is valued at about $150.
To fund the project in Vancouver, Weinberg reports that he and his organization raised over $200,000 in cash and in kind donations. Zac was able to enlist 30 different outreach organizations to distribute the bags with the essential items.
Last April, he followed up on his Vancouver campaign with an even larger distribution – this time reaching 3,000 recipients with the co-operation of 40 organizations across Metro Vancouver.
This past June 20, the former Winnipegger returned to the city that he still considers home to replicate his successful efforts in Vancouver. “We recruited six partnering organizations in the city,” he notes: “Main Street Project, Siloam Mission, North End Women’s Centre, Andrews Street Family Centre, Downtown Community Safety Partnership and Resource Assistance for Youth. We had donations in kind from Doug and Verna Danylchuk (socks), Mercedes-Benz Winnipeg (granola bars) and Dr. David Weinberg and Ms. Lois Schultz (emergency blankets). “
Weinberg adds that, for the official kickoff, Premier Heather Stefanson, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham and Jason Whitford, CEO of End Homelessness Winnipeg, were on hand to show their support and speak at the launch event.
The teen also personally contributed his bar mitzvah money to the Winnipeg campaign.
“We delivered 1,200 bags in Winnipeg through our partnering organizations,” he says. “While we were able to pack and deliver the bags in one day, it took us several months to raise the money and collect the essential items for the bags.”
Thanks to national media coverage of his efforts, Weinberg has received many requests from people across Canada to bring the ZacPac to their city. He hopes to expand his efforts to other communities,
“I know that what we are doing isn’t going to dramatically change anyone’s life,” he observes. “But I hope that by doing this, we are sending a message to people experiencing homelessness that we care and raising awareness regarding the homelessness crisis.”
Weinberg would also like to pose a challenge to teenagers across the country who are currently enjoying their summer holidays. “I would like to issue a call to action,” he says. “If every student would find a cause that is important to them in their local community and take just one day from their summer to work for that cause, that would result in 5-million days of work (equivalent to the estimated number of students in Canada) dedicated to charitable activity across the country.”

For more information or to donate to the project, visit the ZacPac Project website at zacgivesback.com. The ZacPac Project can also be followed on Instagram @zacpacproject.

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How DIY Auto Repairs Can Help You Cut Costs—Safely

Image from Pexels.com

Regular maintenance and minor repairs are the greatest approach for many car drivers to save money without sacrificing dependability. DIY repairs can save you a lot of money over the life of your car since most of the expense is in the labour. DIY helps you learn how things work and notice tiny issues before they become costly ones. Every work requires planning, patience, and safety. 

Test Your Talents with Safe Limits 

DIY solutions succeed when one is honest about their talents. Wiper blades, air filters, and occupant filters are beginner-friendly. With the correct equipment, intermediate owners can replace brake pads, spark plugs, coolant, and brake fluid. Pressurized fuel, high-voltage hybrids, airbags, and timing components are risky. Only professionals should manage them. Limitations protect you and your car. Drivers trust sources like Parts Avenue to find, install, and schedule manufacturer-approved work.

Set Up a Reliable Workspace and Tools 

Good tools pay for themselves quickly. Ratchets, torque wrenches, combination wrenches, heavy jack stands, and wheel chocks are essential. It is advisable to engage specialists for specific tasks. A clean, flat, well-lit, and open space is essential. Please take your time. While working, keep a charged phone nearby to read repair instructions or write torque patterns. 

Find the Problem before Replacing the Parts

It may cost more to replace something without diagnosing it. Instead of ideas, start with symptoms. OBD-II readers detect leaks, sounds, and DTCs. Simple tests like voltage, smoke indicating vacuum leaks, pad thickness, and rotor runout might reveal failure. A good analysis saves components, protects surrounding parts, and fosters future trust. 

Maintenance That Pays off is Most Crucial 

Jobs compensate for time and tools differently. Prioritize returns and maintenance. Change the oil and filter, rotate the tires, evaluate the air pressure, replace low brake fluid, clean the coolant with the right chemicals, and replace belts and filters before they fail. These items extend automotive life, stabilize fuel efficiency, and reduce roadside towing issues that can take months to resolve.

Do as Instructed, Utilize Quality Parts, and Follow Torque Requirements 

Understand the service. Set the jacking points, tighten the screws in the appropriate order, and use threadlocker or anti-seize as suggested by the maker. Rotor wear can cause leaks, distortions, or broken threads. Choose components that meet or exceed OEM requirements and fit your car’s VIN, engine code, and manufacturing date. Cheap parts that break easily cost extra. 

Test, Record, and Discard Carefully 

Safely test the system before patching. Check under the car for drops, bleed the brakes again, and check fluid levels after a short drive. Note torques, parts, miles, and repair date. Photo and document storage for car sales. Properly dispose of oil, filters, coolant, and brake fluid. Controlling hazards protects your community and workplace.

Know When to Seek Professional Help 

Self-employed individuals recognize their constraints. If a task is challenging, requires special instruments, or involves safety, consult an expert. Collaboration makes cars safer, cheaper, and more efficient. Selecting, planning, and implementing processes properly improves performance, lowers costs, and ensures safety.

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What It Means for Ontario to Be the Most Open iGaming Market in Canada

Ontario is the most open commercial iGaming market in Canada, having been the first province to open up to commercial actors in the online casino and betting space since 2022.

Since gambling laws in Canada are managed on a provincial level, each province has its own legislation. 

Before April 4th, 2022, Ontario was similar to any other Canadian province in the iGaming space. The only gaming site regulated in the province was run by government-owned Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, also known as OLG. However, when the market opened up, numerous high-quality gambling companies established themselves in the province, quickly generating substantial revenue. As the largest online gambling market in Canada, it’s now, three years later, also one of the biggest in North America.

The fully regulated commercial market is run under iGaming Ontario and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. These licensed casinos and online sportsbooks are thus fully legal and safe for players to play at, while at the same time, the open market allows companies to compete and offer different products and platforms as long as they all fit within the requirements set up by the state of Ontario.

This means that Ontarians have a wide choice of licensed sites, whether they’re interested in sports betting, live dealer games, or slots – all with strict consumer-protection rules that keep them safe while exploring the many options. (Source: https://esportsinsider.com/ca/gambling/online-casinos-canada)

There are many benefits to online gaming, especially in a country that’s as sparsely populated as Canada, leaving physical venues often few and far between for those living outside the biggest cities.

Even before Ontario launched its own gambling sites, online gambling had been common among Ontarians. Regulating the market and offering alternatives regulated by the province has often added safer and more controlled options.

Since 85% of Ontarians now play at regulated sites, the initiative of opening up the market seems a clear win in more than one way.

Despite the huge success of the Ontario market, most provinces in Canada haven’t changed much in the iGaming sector in the past few years. Some provinces keep Crown-run monopolies, while others limit activity to a single government-run platform. This often leads Canadians to seek offshore alternatives instead, since the options are so few in their own province.

But 2025 marks an important change. The provinces seem to have noticed that Ontario picked a winning strategy, and Alberta has clearly been taking notes. 

While the province of Alberta has previously opted for controlled gambling through one government website, the province is now opening up the commercial online gambling market. The Alberta iGaming Corporation will be in charge of licensing and inspecting actors that operate in the province. This will mean many more options for players, coupled with consumer protection and a high level of safety.

Meanwhile, the Ontario iGaming market continues to prosper, grow, and develop. Now that a second province is following in its footsteps, it seems more likely that other provinces will also start following the trend.

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I know exactly why leftists aren’t celebrating this ceasefire

Palestinians walk among the rubble of destroyed buildings in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 10.

Relief that the fighting may be at an end is one thing. Joy — after all this suffering — is another

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox.

“We can’t hear you, Zohran,” read one New York Post headline this week: “Pro-Hamas crowd goes quiet on Trump’s Gaza peace deal.”

“It seems awfully curious that the people who have made Gazans a central political cause do not seem at all relieved that there’s at least a temporary cessation of violence … Why aren’t there widespread celebrations across Western cities and college campuses today?” the article asked.

The Post wasn’t alone in voicing that question. A spokesperson for the Republican Jewish Coalition posted on X that “The silence from the ‘ceasefire now’ crowd is shameful and deafening.” Others went so far as to imply that the protesters had been lying and never actually wanted a ceasefire — because what they really wanted wasn’t freedom and security for Palestinians, but the ability to blame Israel. If pro-Palestinian voices had really wanted a ceasefire, the thinking went, they would be celebrating.

I read these various posts and articles and thought of Rania Abu Anza.

I have thought of her every day since I first read her story in early March 2024. Anza spent a decade trying to have a child through in vitro fertilization. When her twins, a boy and a girl, were five months old, an Israeli strike killed them. It also killed her husband and 11 other members of her family.

A year and a half later, a ceasefire cannot bring her children, her husband, or her 11 family members back. They were killed. They will stay dead. What is there to celebrate?

This does not mean that the ceasefire is not welcome, or that it is not a relief. On the contrary: It is both. Of course it’s a relief that the families of hostages don’t need to live one more day in torment and anguish. Of course it’s a relief that more bombs will not fall on Gaza.

But celebration implies, to me anyway, that this is a positive without caveats. And in this situation, there are so many caveats.

The families of the surviving hostages will still have spent years apart from their loved ones, in no small part because their own government did not treat the hostages’ return as the single highest priority. The families of those hostages who were killed in the war will never again sit down to dinner with their loved ones, who could have been saved. And it is difficult to fathom what’s been taken from the hostages themselves: time spent out exploring the world, or with family and friends, or at home doing nothing much at all but sitting safely in quiet contemplation.

And a ceasefire alone will not heal Israeli society, or return trust to the people in their government. It will not fix some of the deep societal problems this war uncovered. A Chatham House report this August found that: “Israeli television ignores the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, while the rhetoric is often aggressive. Critical voices, from inside Israel or abroad, are attacked or silenced.” If the country is ever going to find its way back from Oct. 7 and this war, a ceasefire is a necessary precondition, but not a route in and of itself.

In Gaza, Palestinian health authorities have said that about 67,000 people — not distinguishing between combatants and civilians — have been killed by Israel’s campaign in response to Oct. 7. A full third of those killed were under the age of 18. The ceasefire cannot bring those children back to life.

It cannot turn back time and make it such that Israel admitted more than minimal aid to the embattled strip. It will not undo the damage that has been done to the people of Gaza who were denied enough to eat and drink and proper medical care. It will not give children back their parents, or parents back their children. It will not heal the disabled, or make it so that they were never wounded.

It will not change that all of this happened with the backing of the United States government. (This is to say nothing of the West Bank, which has seen a dramatic expansion of Israeli settlements and escalation of settler violence over the course of the war). And as American Jewish groups put out statements cheering the ceasefire, we should also remember that it does not reverse the reality that too many American Jews were cheerleaders for all this death.

Protesters calling for a ceasefire have regularly been denounced as hateful toward Jews or callous toward the plight of Israelis; American Jews who called for one were called somehow un-Jewish. (Yes, some pro-Palestinian protesters also shared hate toward Jews; the much greater majority did not.) The charge of antisemitism — toward those calling for a ceasefire, those calling for a free Palestine, and those who called attention to Israel’s abuses during this war — was used to silence criticism of Israel and of U.S. foreign policy. Some American Jews went so far as to call for the deportation of students protesting the war.

A ceasefire doesn’t change any of that. It can’t.

I have hopes for this ceasefire. At best, it will allow people — Israelis and Palestinians and, yes, diaspora Jews — to chart a new, better course going forward. But it almost certainly will not do that if we delude ourselves into thinking of this as a victory or a kind of tabula rasa, as though the lives lost and hate spewed are all behind us, forgotten, atoned for. The last two years will never not have happened. What happens next depends on all of us fully appreciating that.

This story was originally published on the Forward.

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