Event co-chairs Lee Simpson, left, and Helen Pinsky. (photo by Pat Johnson)
Celebration and admiration were the overriding emotions Sept. 5 at the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation’s first community social event since the pandemic.
The festive occasion, which took place at Heritage Hall on Main Street, brought together supporters of the foundation and highlighted five individuals who have made profound contributions to the community. The question each was asked was “How do you do it?”
Emceed by Ayelet Cohen Weil, executive director of Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation, and hosted by co-chairs Helen Pinsky and Lee Simpson, the evening featured plenty of shmoozing over a kosher buffet.
Pinsky wandered the room, posing questions to individuals who have made a range of contributions to philanthropic life, beginning with Gary Averbach, who raised $600,000 for cancer research by walking from Calgary to Vancouver in weather that ranged from snow and slush to 40 degrees Celsius. His answer to the question “How did you do it?” was straightforward.
“One step at a time,” he said.
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.
“I don’t know anybody who gets involved who hates it,” he said, insisting this is true even when the task at hand is something one doesn’t think they like.
“I never really enjoyed fundraising but apparently I was good at it,” he said. “It 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.”
He deflected the idea that his fundraising walk was selfless.
“I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t enjoyed it, so it was a really selfish thing,” he said.
Marie Doduck, who published A Childhood Unspoken, her memoir of being a child survivor of the Holocaust and the life she made in Canada, was asked how she did it.
“It took me 40 years to write this book,” she said. “I’ve 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.”
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.
“The book is still in demand,” she said. “It’s coming out in French. [Doduck’s 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?”
She called her decades of community volunteering, “a love affair” and acknowledged that, like Averbach, there are parts she doesn’t enjoy but she does them because she can.
“Fundraising makes me ill, but I’m very good at it,” she said.
Yvette Porte said she does what she does because she is inspired by the examples of others.
“I feel that I get my inspiration from all the people I’ve met, the people who have come before me,” she said. “My mom always wanted to learn. Just before she passed away, a month before, she said, ‘I think I want to learn how to play mah jongg now.’ She was so interested in everything that went on around her.
“My dad, who believed family was the most important thing in the world, that we always had to stick together and support each other – I learned that from him. My kids, they always learned about giving, about supporting the community…. It’s 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.”
Sylvia Cristall spoke of the lesson she gained from her family growing up in Winnipeg.
“I couldn’t afford a lot growing up, but whatever we had, my dad said, even if you have $10, $5, you give it if you can,” she shared. “When you get older and you’re earning money, every bit counts. That’s how I grew up.”
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.
“That was when we were very young,” she recalled, “and he had this feeling for the elderly. He always did. I knew that one day he would be doing something for it.” 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’ philanthropic footsteps.
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 “How do you do it?” was posed.
“I wanted to make a difference,” he said. Levitt spoke of his earlier career, which was a two-decade stint in child welfare.
“I loved it,” said Levitt. “I worked my way from a protective worker to a senior manager.”
When he was looking for a change, he considered becoming the children’s guardian for southern Alberta but the other opportunity that presented itself was at the Louis Brier. “I fell in love with Louis Brier,” he said.
“I folded laundry and I stacked dishes for the dishwasher,” he recalled. “I got to know our residents – probably hundreds, maybe thousands, that I got to know. People who are Holocaust survivors, doctors and lawyers, people who were janitors, every walk of life. Everyone had a special story to tell because they were all special.”
And, he added: “We had a balanced budget for 16 years.”
Cohen Weil welcomed the audience, explaining that the event was a thank you to donors who have made the organization’s successes possible. While the evening was celebratory, she took a moment to recognize the pain the community has experienced since the Oct. 7 attacks and credited “our peculiar resilience as a people,” Jewish positivity, hope and compassion.
“This evening was to say thank you,” she said. “We all hope our lives will be long and independent. However, for those of us who are not so fortunate in that regard, the Louis Brier is there. We continually strive to be a better, more caring and more compassionate place for those who live here.”
The event also featured video greetings from Dr. David Keselman, CEO of the Louis Brier and the Weinberg, who was out of town, and a video featuring residents evoked the spirit of the home.
Harry Lipetz, president of the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation, thanked the sponsors, who ensured that no foundation funds were expended for the gathering. These included Cristall Group Investments and the Cristall family, ZLC Financial Group, Porte Communities, the Simpson family, the Marsid Family Foundation, and WestCana Services, which is the culinary provider to the Brier.
The co-chairs, Pinsky and Simpson, spoke emotionally of the contributions the Louis Brier makes to the lives of elders in the community.