Jewish Women International

An 80th birthday tribute

Annette Whitehead has spent her life helping others.

Annette Whitehead – who turns 80 on Nov. 17 – continues to devote herself to helping others. Born in Winnipeg, but raised since infancy in Vancouver, her volunteer career started with her being a candy striper in her teens.

Over the years, Annette has served in myriad capacities for various organizations. Her only absence from local community work was during her three-and-a-half years of living in Sweden, immediately after her marriage and the birth of her first child, a son, Sidney.

Upon her return to Vancouver, Annette gave birth to her second child, a daughter, Sally. Together, Annette and her husband Jacob (z’l) raised their children and, thanks to Annette being a “stay-at-home mom,” she also raised half the neighbourhood’s children, who made the Whitehead home their meeting place. To this day, many of her children’s friends, now with children of their own, keep in touch with her via Facebook and Skype, still addressing her as “Mrs. Whitehead,” as they did when they were kids.

Throughout her years as the anchor of her family’s home life, Annette took on babysitting, both as a source of income and on a volunteer basis for families in crisis. Once both her children went off to university and on to successful careers in finance and law, Annette started accepting home-stays, overseas students who were visiting Canada to master English. She hosted home-stays from 1993 until 2014. Many of the students have kept in touch with her and consider her their “Canadian mom.”

Sadly, Annette became a widow 13 years ago, but she has retained a busy life. These days, she enjoys spending a great deal of time with her two granddaughters, Raya and Lilah. As well, she holds positions on the boards of several organizations and participates in volunteer activities on an almost daily basis.

Annette is a trustee on the board of Jewish Women International, B.C. chapter (JWI-BC), and is co-chair of JWI-BC’s Noah’s Ark Project, which provides rear-facing infant car seats to 17 hospitals, organizations and institutions in the province, for working poor and refugee families, as well as several Ministry of Children and Families offices. In her co-chair position, Annette serves as a JWI-BC chapter liaison with social workers at several hospitals with respect to the delivery of the car seats and other baby items, as needed.

Every year since its inception by JWI-BC in the 1980s until the program was terminated last year, Annette was one of the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day volunteers at BC Children’s Hospital, delivering refreshments, snacks and homemade baking to doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, as well as to the parents of young patients. Annette still sends out e-announcements to JWI-BC’s membership – congratulatory messages on births, engagements, weddings and achievements, as well as speedy recovery wishes and, sadly, condolences.

Annette currently sits on the Kitsilano Community Centre’s board, as well as on the seniors board and the seniors committee. As the goods and welfare secretary, she has volunteered for a number of years to send out get-well cards via standard mail to senior members.

At Kerrisdale Community Centre, Annette sits on the senior board and also volunteers as a photographer for special events. Her pictures have been published as part of the centre’s advertising – on the cover and inside the community-wide seasonal program schedules published twice a year. In addition, she volunteers in setting up for special luncheons.

Annette is a past board and committee member for both the program and youth committees at Marpole Community Centre. For many years, she volunteered at the centre’s yearly Marpole Festival Days, working with children and their families, as well as taking photographs for in-house publication.

In the past, Annette has served as volunteer treasurer, both for JWI-BC chapter and for David Livingston Elementary School’s parents committee. For a number of years, she volunteered as a library assistant – at McBride Elementary and Vancouver Technical schools – and also helped slower readers at several Vancouver schools with their reading skills.

Maintaining her interest in health-related activities, Annette volunteers yearly for the Vancouver Sun Run and the HBC Children’s Hospital fundraising run, and has worked in registration, childcare and catering positions for both charities. For several years, she volunteered for the Heart & Stroke Foundation of B.C. & Yukon, leading patients recovering from strokes on neighbourhood walks, with the purpose of improving their ability to walk and talk.

Wishing Annette the happiest of birthdays and thanking her for all she has done for the Jewish and general communities. May she live until 120.

Operation Warmth wraps up

Left to right: Caryl Kochen, Darcy Billinkoff and Caron Bernstein were three of the many Operation Warmth volunteers over the years. (photo from JWI-BC)

More than 40 years ago, Sylvia Handlesman, one of our B’nai B’rith Women (now Jewish Women International-B.C.) members, brought us a wonderful service project she remembered from her earlier years in England – providing home-baked refreshments, tea, coffee and juices to visitors and staff at hospitals on Christmas Eve and Day.

On checking with the B.C. Children’s Hospital, Sylvia learned that the only cafeteria serving visitors and staff was closed over Christmas to allow staff to celebrate the holiday with their families. The hospital assigned us a small room with a fridge, long table and a number of carts to be loaded with home-baked goodies and beverages that added to the festivities of the season. Even Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus and their helpful elves enjoyed the repast.

The heart-warming project – Operation Warmth – was both a service and a social gathering for members and family members who volunteered for three-hour shifts, while enjoying coffee, a snack and greeting and visiting with other volunteers as they came during shift changes. Some, who could not walk the halls, stayed in the room filling trays, loading carts and making coffee.

Originally, our members only served refreshments to the visitors and personnel in the children’s wards – due to dietary restrictions, patients were always excluded.

Because of the success of Operation Warmth, the hospital soon requested that our members also cover the B.C. Women’s maternity section.

Since then, on Christmas Eve and Day, JWI-BC family members and community volunteers have traveled through the halls of these wards with loaded carts. A table on the main floor in the area close to the elevator was also kept supplied with goodies for visitors and staff. With time, the original coffee and home-made baking was supplemented with fruit juices, mandarin oranges and other treats donated by local stores and bakeries.

It is impossible to express the appreciation the volunteers received from the hospital personnel, visitors whose children were unable to go home and expectant or newly delivered mothers who were also hospital bound for the holidays. The only years when Operation Warmth was not provided took place when Christmas fell on Shabbat or a snowstorm made travel too dangerous.

With time, most of our original volunteers were no longer with us and, with them, has gone much of the fantastic home-baked cookies and squares that once filled the plates on the carts.

For a number of years, Operation Warmth was organized by Zmirah Rosenthal, with the invaluable assistance of her longtime friend, Ena Salamon. Although Ena was not a JWI-BC member, she was responsible for a major share of the planning that made this project so successful. One year, she even organized the two-day program completely on her own.

Last October, the new Teck Acute Care Centre opened at B.C. Children’s Hospital. As well, hospital staff make every effort to get patients and families home, if only for the day or two, over the holidays. And patients on the maternity wards also have a much shorter hospital stay. As a result of all of these changes, the Operation Warmth program is wrapping up after four decades.

“It has been a privilege and honour to work with the B’nai B’rith Women, now Jewish Women International, in the planning and delivery of this annual event,” said Pat Gillis, manager, volunteer resources, B.C. Children’s and B.C. Women’s Hospital. “My sincere thanks to Zmirah and Ena, who have been the driving force for an event that brightened the days of families from all across British Columbia for so many years. As our facility changes, we want to take this time to thank the many community volunteers who have been a part of our history on Oak Street.”

JWI-BC is also appreciative, and thanks the staff and volunteers of the hospitals and the many individuals and their families who helped make Operation Warmth a success for so many years.

Food always needed: Project Isaiah

(photo from Jewish Food Bank Report 2013-14)

Project Isaiah is the annual High Holy Day food drive that assists those members of the community who are in need. All donations go directly to the Jewish Food Bank to assist individuals in the community – seniors, families and newcomers.

Sponsored by Jewish Family Service Agency and Jewish Women International-British Columbia, Project Isaiah is inspired by Isaiah 58:7: “… share your bread with the hungry.”

The Jewish Food Bank’s 2013-14 report, released last week, notes that the situation of the Jewish community mirrors that of the larger community, wherein most people living on fixed incomes or earning minimum wage in British Columbia spend 60 percent of their income or higher on housing, leaving 40 percent or less to cover utilities, medication and clothing, as well as food. With the rapidly growing cost of living, and lower economy, more families are having to access food banks for help:

• 12 percent of B.C. residents are unable to meet basic needs and do not have access to adequately nutritious food in sufficient amounts.

• For the past eight years, British Columbia has been ranked as the highest province in Canada for children living in poverty.

• Food bank usage is at an all-time high.

• 7.7 percent of B.C. residents are considered “food insecure” and go without or on reduced food intake.

The Jewish Food Bank supports almost 400 Jewish individuals. Each time clients visit the food bank, they receive approximately two to three days’ worth of food per individual.

All of the households served live at or below the poverty line and 80 percent of all households spend at least 60 percent of their income on rent. All clients are assessed and authorized by a JFSA caseworker. Currently, the food bank helps 55 children and teenagers, 248 adults and 91 senior adults.

Annually, more than 45 volunteers provide operational support to the food bank. The volunteers do the ordering, pick up donated goods, set up, as well as deliver to more than 50 homebound clients. With additional volunteers for its annual food drives, Project Isaiah, and the newly established Project Sustenance in the spring, volunteers contribute close to 3,500 hours of support.

The food bank is fully funded through the generosity of JFSA donors, the fundraising efforts and donors of JWI-BC, gift-in-kind donations of food through various food drive events, such as Project Isaiah and Project Sustenance, and ongoing donations collected by community partners. This past year, it had an operating budget of $149,200, with in-kind donations of food making up a value of $30,000 of the annual budget.

Close to 40 community partners provide ongoing food donations, supplies and space to support the Jewish Food Bank. These partners help lower the cost of operations and play a critical role.

This year’s Project Isaiah is underway, and the food bank is hoping that you will consider sharing your bread with the hungry (now and throughout the year). Take a bag home from a local synagogue or Jewish day school and return it, filled with food. A suggested shopping list includes high-nutrition items such as canned fish (tuna/salmon/sardines), peanut butter (plastic bottles only), canned fruit, canned vegetables, cooking oil (plastic bottles only), whole grain pasta/rice/cereals, legumes (canned or dried), dried fruit (prunes/apricots) and toiletries (includes children’s diapers). Note: check the “best before date” on products, as expired products cannot be accepted.

If you are unable to contribute food, JFSA and JWI-BC gratefully accept monetary donations (and issue a tax receipt).

For more information about Project Isaiah, contact Debbie Rootman at JFSA (604-257-5151, ext. 230) or [email protected], or Sara Ciacci at JWI-BC (604-838-5567).

Project Sustenance is the Jewish Food Bank’s second food drive

Debbie Rootman, community developer and program coordinator for the Jewish Food Bank.

On Sunday, June 1, from 1-4 p.m., the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver will be the site of Project Sustenance, a major food drive in support of the Jewish Food Bank. Community members, who are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to donate, will be treated to live entertainment, a kosher barbecue and a kids-oriented crafts table hosted by Vancouver Talmud Torah. The drive is organized in partnership between the Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA), Beth Tikvah Synagogue, Jewish Women International (JWI) and the JCCGV.

The idea for the drive came from Beth Tikvah’s Francie Steen and Shelley Ail, who is the lead food bank volunteer, said Debbie Rootman, community developer and program coordinator for the Jewish Food Bank. Steen and Ail are event co-chairs.

This is the first year of Project Sustenance, but JFSA “hopes to have it annually, because hunger is 365 days a year,” Rootman told the Independent. In an average month, she said, the Jewish Food Bank provides meals for 250 people, 65 of whom are children. “On top of helping so many people in the community,” Rootman said, “on special times of the year, like Passover and Rosh Hashanah, we distribute hampers to another 170 clients of Jewish Family Service Agency.”

Project Sustenance is meant to be the second food drive of the year for the Jewish Food Bank, which organizes Project Isaiah each High Holiday season with the help of local synagogues. Rootman and her colleagues had “always talked about doing another one in the spring, but haven’t had the time or volunteer power to do it,” she said. In fact, by about January every year, the food bank has usually run out of the goods donated in the fall. Typically, after January, the food bank has had to largely rely on cash donations, “so that way we can buy food, which we do bi-weekly for fresh vegetables and fresh bread and other things that we need,” she added.

“It was started as a temporary measure, but we’ve still got it today. So, it has grown. Many of the reasons [for that growth] are because Vancouver is very expensive, so some of the people we see are working poor … disabled people, elderly people, people on fixed incomes we are helping, as well as people going through tough times … everybody has challenges in their life, so we are here to help for those times.”

The Jewish Food Bank “was started 33 years ago by two women,” Rootman said. “It was started as a temporary measure, but we’ve still got it today. So, it has grown. Many of the reasons [for that growth] are because Vancouver is very expensive, so some of the people we see are working poor … disabled people, elderly people, people on fixed incomes we are helping, as well as people going through tough times.” She added, “everybody has challenges in their life, so we are here to help for those times.” Her personal philosophy, she said, is that “charity begins at home.”

The Jewish Food Bank operates out of the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture every other Thursday and is organized and staffed by volunteers. Elaborating on the scope and value of those contributions, Rootman said, “The Jewish Food Bank could not operate without the many volunteers.” She said there is always a need for volunteers to drive goods to clients who lack mobility, to organize food at the bi-weekly food banks and to sort Project Isaiah food donations in the fall. Right now, they are hoping that more volunteers will step forward to help with “set up and take down on June 1, as well as sorting” the donations.

The Jewish Food Bank is a community-wide effort, and Project Sustenance is no different. Aside from Steen and Ail, JWI’s Sara Ciacci has been involved in Project Sustenance through “major fundraising for the Jewish Food Bank,” said Rootman, and the JCCGV has donated the space for the June 1 drive. Some of the other major sponsors include Broadway Moving, which has donated a truck to transport the donated food, Omnitsky’s Kosher, which is providing kosher hot dogs, and Signarama Richmond.

Project Sustenance follows Beth Tikvah Synagogue’s presentation of A Place at the Table, a film that screened on May 13 to raise awareness about hunger in the community. The documentary explores the various issues surrounding hunger and the means to solving this serious problem. The screening was followed by a panel discussion, which included Rootman, who said she found the film to be “very powerful,” and Alex Nixon from the Richmond Food Bank. The panelists connected the information in A Place at the Table to Canada and the local Jewish community.

For those who are unable to attend on June 1, “food donations can be dropped off at any synagogue, Jewish school, the JFSA office or the JCC,” Rootman said. Community members can also make a cash or credit card donation by calling JFSA at 604-257-5151.

Zach Sagorin is a Vancouver freelance writer.