I was president of Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS) from 1991-1993, before it underwent its merger with JVS and JFS to become Ometz as we know it today. I moved onto the JIAS board in 1988, and it came about because the president at the time, Barry Shapiro, called up Zittrer, Siblin, Stein, Levine, the firm I was working at, and spoke to Boris Levine. He asked Boris if anyone at the firm would be interested in sitting on the JIAS board, and Boris thought I would be a good candidate. Shortly afterward, I joined JIAS, was on the board for a period, and eventually became president.

During my time at JIAS we created a major project in the community called “The Hundred Families Program”. The goal of this program was to reunite Jews from the former Soviet Union with their relatives already here in Montreal. The program served as a way of increasing the Jewish population in Montreal, and thus to help reverse the demographic trends we were undergoing at the time. We made an agreement with the Federal and Quebec immigration departments, and went to Moscow with government representatives to interview prospects.

The community organized itself well and we created welcome baskets, pick-ups at the airport, Jewish Public Library and Y memberships, Le Mercaz, and founded the Family-to-Family Program (pairing local and incoming families). Of course, we ensured the local relatives were very much involved. Perhaps most importantly, we created a job program designed to find work for the immigrants even before they arrived. The Hundred Families Program was, overall, an exciting program that worked out very well. We followed a strategic plan and initiated many new services. We made immigration to Montreal a positive in our community.

Currently, I am the executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal and participated in the planning to bring about the new Ometz.

A core value of Jewish people is to alleviate the status of the poor, and to make them independent. That’s the overriding mission of Ometz in Montreal, and I hope it will continue in the future.