TORONTO — The hard-working student volunteers of Hillel were able to relax at the organization’s annual student awards night.
Held May 12 at Ryerson University, the awards honoured a year’s worth of volunteer participation and initiatives on campuses throughout the GTA.
From left are Arielle Branitsky, Lea Kaplan and Jaime Reich. [Rita Poliakov photos]
“This is a special evening to celebrate achievement,” said Hillel board member Alan Berdowski. “There’s no higher calling than the giving of yourself for something you believe in.”
TOP PHOTO: Allie Caperfain and her father, Ron, show off her award. BELOW are award winners, Glendon College York University students Mayer Elharar, left, and David Seni.
Berdowski, the first speaker of the evening, took time to reflect on Hillel’s work during the past school year.
“We’ve had high-profile events,” he said. “Hillel keeps growing in popularity. We’ve done tutoring, volunteering in Israel and community rebuilding missions.”
One of the many guests at the event was Amir Gissin, consul general of Israel for Toronto and Western Canada, who congratulated award recipients on their efforts to help the Jewish community.
“Israel appreciates [your work],” he said.
Gissin said he was impressed that students gave of their time.
“You have a price to pay,” he said. “Those who volunteer, the only thing they give up is time, but you are out there taking a risk. You have alternatives. You study and work and have no time to spare. The work is difficult, yet you choose it. ”
Gissin went on to speak about the future of Hillel’s volunteers.
“Eventually, the young people that work for Hillel and take responsibility to lead, these are the people who make a difference. I’m full of admiration for the work you do. My only hopes is that next year this room will be too small,” he said.
This year’s room wasn’t too small, but it was packed with young Jews. According to Zac Kaye, the executive director of Hillel, there are some 18,000 Jewish students on GTA campuses, and Hillel reaches more than 7,000 of them.
“We [stay connected] with actual e-mails, phone numbers and addresses,” he said. “We are one of the most successful organizations in connecting with students.”
Attracting so many people for an awards night didn’t seem possible when Hillel first held the event 12 years ago, Kaye said.
“We started in a small room above a pub at the University of Toronto. We had to persuade students to come. Since then, we’ve grown into something special,” he said.
Kaye also credited this growth to choice.
“Students don’t have to get involved,” he said. “There are so many other things they can do with their time, but they do tremendous things.”
Some volunteer initiatives included CHANGE, a global awareness committee that’s part of Hillel at U of T. The committee was run by Allie Caperfain, who received the University of Toronto campus award.
The cast of Hillel’s student-run production of Anything Goes won the Outstanding Arts and Culture award, and Hayley Fisher was recognized for using a full-sized bathtub at York University to collect toiletry items for a shelter.
Fisher collected two bathtubs worth of toiletries and won the David Liss award for her efforts.
The final award was not given to a student. Instead, the Founding Friend of the Campus Award went to Mark Anshan, director of public affairs for UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, for his work in the Jewish community.