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May 4, 2007
Board member noted
Eisman is bestowed with the 2007 Chai Award.
KELLEY KORBIN
Louis Eisman will be honored with the second annual Chai Award
at the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation's May 6 gala dinner.
Eisman, a Louis Brier board member, was instrumental in raising
$9 million for the construction of the foundation's Harry and Jeanette
Weinberg Residence.
The Weinberg is a private residence providing 30 assisted living
rooms and 20 multi-level care rooms to Jewish seniors. Unlike the
Louis Brier Home and Hospital, the Weinberg Residence is a private
facility and does not receive any government funding.
"The reason we built the [Weinberg] was that the government,
Coastal Health, tells us who can come into the Brier and who can't
come in and we wanted a place where Jewish people could definitely
come in, because we owned it," explained the South-African
born Eisman, who added that the residence is now fully occupied
and thriving.
Eisman joined the Brier board about seven years ago. "I've
been on many different Jewish boards through the years," he
said. "You know, your kids start off in preschool at the JCC,
I was on the board there and then I was on Talmud Torah and then
on Federation, but I'd never set foot in the Louis Brier. You know,
I'm the oldest person I know here [in Vancouver], so I don't know
any older people."
However, he was invited to go on a tour of the Brier and said that
straight away, "I saw it was really a fantastic place."
Subsequently, he said, "I went on the board and I was really
impressed with the people. I thought it was the most meaningful
board I'd been on in all the years. It's a really terrific board
with very competent people."
He added, "I find the Brier extremely rewarding because it
encompasses peoples lives, these old people. You know, they're coming
there really for the rest of their lives."
When the plan to build the Weinberg Residence was formulated, Eisman
said he took on its fund-raising as a full time job, with help from
Joe Segal and the late Morris Wosk.
It is for this work that Eisman is being honored. Foundation director
of development Dvori Balshine said the Chai Award is presented to
a community member who has dedicated a significant amount of time,
money and effort "to ensure that our Jewish elderly are continuing
to live in dignity and respect." She added, "I think Louis
Eisman has done a wonderful job, that he is an outstanding fund-raiser,
that the honor we are bestowing on him is very well-deserved."
But Eisman, who said he's been described as a "little colorful,"
was at first reluctant to be a Chai Award recipient. "I was
honored by the success of the campaign – that was enough for
me," he explained.
However, he promised to accept the award graciously and deliver
a funny speech at the gala dinner.
Kelley Korbin is a freelance writer living in West Vancouver.
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