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Ranee Lee gives blood donor clinic a boost

Canadian jazz vocalist Ranee Lee  met donors at the annual Côte Saint-Luc blood donor clinic, which took place on  April 27 at the municipal Gymnasium. 

Only three percent of Quebecers who are eligible to donate blood actually give this gift of life. That number is too low, especially as the need in hospitals is so great. There were 89 donors this year, not a bad figure considering the fact the gym is in the middle of a construction zone (for our new $18 million Aquatic and Community Centre) and on this day the Canadiens were facing the Boston Bruins in game seven of their opening playoff round.

I want to thank Ranee Lee (at the right with myself and a blood donor)  for accepting my invitation, event coordinators Regine Banon and Darryl Levine, the staff of the Parks and Recreation Department and all of the volunteers.  Everyone on hand was thrilled to meet the charming local jazz legend.  Lee won a Juno Award in 2010 for her album Ranee Lee Lives Upstairs. We hope to possibly have her perform at a Côte Saint-Luc event in the future.

For more information about giving blood go to the  Hema Quebec website.  

A "small world" story: The Zygielbaum connection from California

Stanley Diamond, the charismatic founder of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal, contacted me with this very interesting story. I will share with you what he wrote.

My daughter Jessika Diamond is moving from Alameda, California to Toronto next week.
 
After 12 years in the Bay Area, Jessika is divesting of anything she does not want to ship, store, mail or bring in her car (she is driving cross-country in January).  Her goal is to throw nothing out – everything is going to charity, recycling, to friends, or out on Freecycle, a mailing list where people post what they are giving away, or what they need.
 
This week, she posted an offer of dozens of file & hanging folders.

A number of people expressed interest, including a young woman at a nearby non-profit.  Since Jessika is partial to non-profit groups (as an event manager, her specialty is large-scale galas & fundraising events for charities), she chose this young lady to receive them.
 
As she was replying, Jessika noticed the young woman's name is Zygielbaum, the same name on the sign in the park across the street from our house on Edgemore (Arthur Zygielbaum)  in Cote Saint-Luc where she grew up.  Her comment to Beth Zygielbaum was “and for a random moment… you have the same last name as the WWII resistance fighter for whom the park across the street from my parents’ place in Montreal is named!” 
 
Beth’s reply was “not random at all to me, he was my great grandfather!! His son, my grandpa was also heavily involved in the resistance in Poland as a leader of a militia living in the forest near Warsaw.  I visited the park with my family as a small child but haven’t been back since then.”

When her family – including the next generation, the 15-month-old great, great-grandson - came to pick up the folders, Jessika took a picture with them.

Go figure, Jessika, daughter of a Dutch Holocaust survivor, growing up spitting distance from this park named for Zygielbaum, meeting the great-granddaughter of that man, in a small city in California, where they both reside.

Pictured: Jessika Diamond (left) and Beth Zygielbaum.
 

Canada Day is special in CSL

Nobody does Canada Day better than Côte Saint-Luc. From the time I was young child, growing up in the community I have always called home, the July 1 celebrations were a major highlight for me. There was a time when all of the action in the city was centered around Kirwan Park, sandwiched between Wentworth and Blossom avenues.  I lived right next door. With the construction of the much larger Centennial Park, eventually renamed after Pierre Elliott Trudeau, all activities switched over there.

 When Mother Nature cooperates, as she did this year, there is no better place to be. It gave me great pride as a city councillor to be at Trudeau Park for our action-packed evening. Proceedings began witha Canadian Citizenship Ceremony, presided over by Judge Marcel Tremblay. The former Montreal city councillor was just appointed to the position last week. He swore in 32 new Canadians from 11 different countries. Councillor Mitchell Brownstein, an immigration lawyer, brought this type of ceremony to our Canada Day festivities a few years ago. It is a perfect fit.

Next was the annual Human Rights Walkway ceremony. The Human Rights Walkway was inaugurated in 2000 and is dedicated to men and women who, through their actions, have promoted and defended human rights. This year we honoured those who spoke out and fought for Jews oppressed in the former Soviet Union, Syria, and Ethiopia. Fellow councillor Glenn J. Nashen (seen unveiling the plaque with me below) co-chaired this initiative with me. We were both very involved in these movements in the late 1980s via Canadian Jewish Congress. I worked at as national director of communications while Glenn was a volunteer and co-chaired the Jews in Arab Lands Committee.   It was nostalgic to have lawyer Stan Cytrynbaum with us at the ceremony. Stan chaired the Ethiopian Jewry Committee and put his heart and soul into the movement.

Go to the Côte Saint-Luc website to see a terrific documentary prepared by our Director of Public  Affairs and Communications Darryl Levine. In addition, Darryl posted highlights from the actual ceremony, which you can see here.

This was the 10th plaque unveiled on the walkway.  Many of the past honourees have been people who put their lives on the line in many parts of the world. By selecting a movement of people—many of them local—we wanted to highlight the fact anyone, anywhere can help those in need, even from the safety and comfort of our suburban homes in Canada. Professor  Irwin Cotler, Stan Cytrynbaum, and Judy Feld Carr—an unassuming former music teacher and grandmother of 10 who was responsible for the rescue of 3,228 Jews from Syria over 28 years—are three examples of a movement that helped rescue hundreds of thousands of people.”

Here is a video of the ceremony, via CSL TV:

As for the overall Canada Day ceremony, there were thousands of people at the park to enjoy  fun and games, music and performances. There were a variety of food kiosks setup and of course, everything culminated with a spectacular fireworks display –perhaps one of the best we have seen in years.  I must say there is nothing quite like standing on the stage with the mayor and city council and looking out into the audience and a sea of people. Mayor Anthony Housefather was correct when he told those with us that night who do not live in Côte Saint-Luc to consider moving here. We are a vibrant community, one that will soon have a $17 million aquatic complex and a new housing development at the Cavendish Mall.

Thanks to Dan Laxer of CJAD Radio who was back as our master of ceremonies.  Congratulations to co-chairs Mitchell Brownstein and Ruth Kovac and our staff at the Parks and Recreation Department.