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<\/a>Averbach walks every day, and it struck him that he could string a lot of days together and make a major trudge across two provinces to raise money for a good cause. When a beloved cousin was diagnosed with cancer, Averbach took the opportunity to do good. His advice to people about getting involved in charitable causes was equally frank.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know anybody who gets involved who hates it,\u201d he said, insisting this is true even when the task at hand is something one doesn\u2019t think they like.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never really enjoyed fundraising but apparently I was good at it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was always easier for me to write a cheque rather than ask for it. But I enjoyed the camaraderie, being with people, allegiances that were the same as mine. It was one of the most enjoyable periods of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He deflected the idea that his fundraising walk was selfless.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have done it if I hadn\u2019t enjoyed it, so it was a really selfish thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Marie Doduck, who published A Childhood Unspoken<\/i>, her memoir of being a child survivor of the Holocaust and the life she made in Canada, was asked how she did it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me 40 years to write this book,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been fighting antisemitism my whole life. Since I came to Canada as a child, antisemitism was here. Survival is something survivors do. We have no other choice, so we do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the book was released, as part of the Azrieli Foundation Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program, Doduck has been traveling extensively speaking about the book, her life and the lessons to be learned from her experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cThe book is still in demand,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s coming out in French. [Doduck\u2019s first language]. And the most surprised person alive is me. Why are people reading my book when it was a personal thing to do for my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She called her decades of community volunteering, \u201ca love affair\u201d and acknowledged that, like Averbach, there are parts she doesn\u2019t enjoy but she does them because she can.<\/p>\n \u201cFundraising makes me ill, but I\u2019m very good at it,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yvette Porte said she does what she does because she is inspired by the examples of others.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel that I get my inspiration from all the people I\u2019ve met, the people who have come before me,\u201d she said. \u201cMy mom always wanted to learn. Just before she passed away, a month before, she said, \u2018I think I want to learn how to play mah jongg now.\u2019 She was so interested in everything that went on around her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy dad, who believed family was the most important thing in the world, that we always had to stick together and support each other \u2013 I learned that from him. My kids, they always learned about giving, about supporting the community…. It\u2019s inspiring to be with everyone and I hope to pass on an example of supporting your community and supporting your family to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n Sylvia Cristall spoke of the lesson she gained from her family growing up in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t afford a lot growing up, but whatever we had, my dad said, even if you have $10, $5, you give it if you can,\u201d she shared. \u201cWhen you get older and you\u2019re earning money, every bit counts. That\u2019s how I grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n After moving to Los Angeles and then meeting and marrying Lorne Cristall, the couple started a family in Vancouver. A newcomer to the city, Sylvia asked Lorne as they were driving by 41st and Oak what that building was. He told her it was the Louis Brier Home and Hospital and that they do superb work.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was when we were very young,\u201d she recalled, \u201cand he had this feeling for the elderly. He always did. I knew that one day he would be doing something for it.\u201d And he did. The late Lorne Cristall served as president of the Louis Brier, as well as of Vancouver Talmud Torah elementary school and Congregation Beth Israel. She is especially proud, she said, that her children have followed in their parents\u2019 philanthropic footsteps.<\/p>\n Ken Levitt, the former chief executive officer of the Louis Brier and a current director on the board of the Weinberg Residence, was the last one to whom the question \u201cHow do you do it?\u201d was posed.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>