From The Blog
Scholarships to provide care for caregivers
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail.
The donors: Sheila and David Brodovsky and Maurice Tauber
The gift: Raising $70,000 and climbing
The cause: Scholarships for staff at Winnipeg’s Simkin Centre
When David Brodovsky was growing up in Winnipeg in the 1930s, his family faced sudden hardship when his father died.
“My father died when I was an infant, leaving mom with three kids under four in the middle of the Depression,” Dr. Brodovsky, 83, recalled from his home in Winnipeg. “She worked very hard and taught at school.” The example of their mother’s hard work and commitment to education left a lasting impression on the children. They all ended up in the medical profession; Dr. Brodovsky and his brother as doctors and their sister as a nutritionist.
For many years, Dr. Brodovsky’s elderly relatives lived at the Saul & Claribel Simkin Centre in Winnipeg, a care home based on Jewish traditions. The father of his friend Maurice Tauber also stayed there and they all wanted to do something to thank the staff after their last family member died in 2009. They decided to set up a scholarship and began donating money together with other family members. Today, the fund has grown to around $70,000, and each year the group awards one scholarship worth $2,500 to the child of a staff member.
“We’re very grateful for the care and consideration of many of the employees,” said Dr. Brodovsky, who added that they hope to eventually fund another scholarship. “This is a way to thank them for the many kindnesses they gave.”