TORONTO — Goldie Plotkin isn’t interested in helping a charity’s public relations department. She’s interested in bettering lives.
Goldie Plotkin
“Obviously there are many charities that need our help,” she said of Chabad Lubavitch of Markham and its charity fashion show, which will be held on March 21.
“Some organizations have wonderful marketing tools and great PR agents. A lot of their money goes for PR and ads,” she said. “[There are] very obscure, very well hidden charities, I guess they don’t have PR, they’re not part of the hoo-haw of Toronto.”
Alternative Short-Term Emergency Housing (ASTEH) is one of these charities.
ASTEH, a joint initiative between Jewish Family and Child (JF&CS) and Jewish Women International of Canada (JWIC), is a shelter for abused Jewish women and their children that includes kosher amenities and emotional support for its clients.
“I like to support a charity where every single penny we give goes to the charity. It’s not going to pay for advertising, our money goes straight to helping a mother with her children,” Plotkin, the fashion show’s organizer, said.
Chabad holds a charity event either every year or every other year, and about 20 per cent of proceeds goes to local charities.
For Penny Krowitz, the executive director of JWIC, the show isn’t just about funds, it’s about raising awareness for an issue that many in the Jewish community would rather ignore, she said.
“Unless you need it, you don’t pay attention to it… many people say to me, ‘I didn’t know [the shelter] existed,’” she said.
Because ASTEH is a joint initiative between JF&CS and JWIC, the shelter provides social work services as well as volunteer services such as babysitting children while clients are in court or helping women find an apartment when they’re ready to leave.
“The issue of violence against women, particularly in the Jewish community, is not really one people like to talk about,” Krowitz said. “We want to feel that we are different from the rest of society. Unfortunately, that isn’t true.”
One of Krowitz’s aims, both for the fashion show and through JWIC in general, is to promote education about this issue.
“Many people don’t understand what constitutes abuse against women. This will give us an opportunity to educate the public… as well as being the recipient of fundraising dollars.”
Krowitz sees the fashion show as a good forum to spread her message.
“There will be predominately women [at the show]. Women need to be aware of this both for their own lives and the lives of those they care about,” she said.
The fashion show, called a Celebration of the Generations, will be at the Hudson Bay Company’s flagship location on Queen Street and will include about 45 models of all ages.
“All [of Chabad’s] activities include grandparents, parents, children. We celebrate all the different life cycles,” Plotkin said. “I’m not about size zero models, that’s anorexia. I want to show very healthy women, beautiful women.”
Plotkin expects about 400 to 500 people to attend the show, which will include a raffle and a speech by Judy Feld Carr, who rescued more than 3,000 Jews from Syria.
Tickets are $65, and $36 for students and seniors. For more information or to order tickets, call 905-886-0420, ext. 227, or visit www.chabadmarkham.org.
