MONTREAL — A Jewish charity that distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to the needy on a non-sectarian basis defends its policy as consistent with Judaism’s teachings.
Dodo Heppner, founder of the Montreal chapter of Mazon Canada, acknowledged that the organization is often questioned about why it doesn’t give the money it raises in the community solely to poor Jews. With the economic slump, that point is brought up even more frequently.
Heppner isn’t fazed by the skeptics. She has heard it all since 1987, when she established Mazon locally. The Toronto-based organization calls itself “a Jewish response to hunger.”
She consulted Rabbi Sidney Shoham, who was spiritual leader of Beth Zion Congregation for 50 years.
“He said it was not a problem. In Jewish life, there are three obligations that can be seen as concentric circles. The first responsibility is to family, then to community and, thirdly, to the wider community we live in. He said we encompass all three circles,” said Heppner, who remains Mazon’s adviser. Cheryl Brott and Terry Landau are the chapter’s co-chairs.
A Jewish presence in the effort to help out the worst off in society is also good public relations, Heppner said, but it’s subtle. “All we ask beneficiaries is to list us among their supporters.”
Heppner, now 82, also has an answer for those who think that many who go to food banks or other places offering free meals are “shnorrers” and don’t really need it.
“I remember my grandmother used to say ‘I’d rather give to one or two who don’t need it, in case I miss the ones who do.’”
For a more scientific answer, Heppner refers to a survey that was done in Toronto recently among beneficiaries of food banks. “What emerged most clearly was that this was the hardest thing these people had ever had to do. Asking for food was a blow to their dignity.”
In Montreal, Mazon – meaning “nourishment” in Hebrew and taken from the blessing over meals – distributes approximately $300,000 annually to more than 70 front-line organizations and programs that feed the undernourished, mostly on the island, but some as far away as the Laurentians and Beauharnois.
They include several Jewish organizations – those serving the Orthodox communities among them – but are mainly there for the general public. Besides food banks and community cafeterias, the beneficiaries include collective kitchens, school programs and shelters and missions.
Heppner stressed that there’s a rigorous selection process. An application with detailed questions about the administration and financial status of the program must be made each year.
The applications are vetted by a Montreal committee before being sent on to the national allocations committee, which gives the final approval.
“We also try every year to visit a few of the organizations we fund to see first hand what they do,” Heppner added.
Demand is greater than ever, she said. In the latest round of applications this past spring, requests were up by one-third. Not only are more people turning for help, but food donations to these program are also down.
According to Centraide, 27 per cent of Montrealers live below the low-income threshold, a figure that Mazon uses in its publicity.
Mazon has distributed a total of over $7 million across Canada since 1986.
Mazon’s major fundraiser in Montreal is the annual Kosher Foodfest, whose 15th edition will be held the evening of Nov. 26, as usual, at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. For $100, you can eat to your heart’s content from stations set up by many of the city’s kosher caterers and food purveyors, all of whom donate what they offer.
In its first year, the Foodfest raised $50,000 and in its best years netted $240,000, Heppner said. “This is an enormous achievement for an organization that is not in the limelight and has little professional help.”
Overhead is less than 10 per cent, she said, because Mazon is essentially a volunteer organization, and almost all of the services required for the event are donated or provided at a reduced rate.
New volunteer Jayne Schneider-Lisak explained why she was attracted to Mazon: “I am a cynic. I think ‘volunteer non-profit’ is an oxymoron, like kosher shrimp. Most organizations are run by paid staff. At the Mazon office, a cramped closet of a room, volunteers were actually doing the bookkeeping, receipting, updating donor lists and stuffing and addressing a mailing. ‘Staff’ is a gem of a woman who works part-time as office manager [Cheryl Cartwright, better known as “CC”].”
She was hooked after attending her first meeting. “Mazon doesn’t have ‘socialites’… Mazon is grassroots.”
The Kosher Foodfest has two new chairs: Marjorie Kirsch-Heft and Sara Heppner-Waldston, Heppner’s daughter, and some fresh features.
New this year is a martini and tapas bar; a jazz “club” featuring singer Willow Quig and a pianist; and performances by Dale King and her dancers, including dance lessons, all donating their time.
For the first time, students in grades 9 to 11 from several schools are raising money and volunteering at the Foodfest under a project called Kids Feeding Kids.
The silent auction of all donated items is back.
All attendees will receive a program book in the form of a desk agenda, another innovation.
For tickets, call 483-6234.
