Hillel gala is a big hit

MONIKA ULLMANN

Not all fund-raisers can claim to have the most hard-working, as well as beautiful, volunteers. But when the Hillel Vancouver volunteers who had contributed to this year's gala, An Enchanted Evening in the Amazon, were called up on the stage to receive their bouquets of flowers and applause, there could be no doubt: they were both.

One of them, Reut Amit, the president of Israel Awareness at the University of British Columbia's Hillel House, was greeting guests, making sure everybody was finding what they were looking for and answering questions about the role of her organization.

"We invite interesting speakers, organize cultural events and also defend Israel on campus when necessary," she said. Hillel has a strong presence at most major universities in Canada. For the students, it serves primarily as a place where they feel at home, despite campuses that are getting bigger and more crowded.

Each year, Hillel Vancouver holds a fund-raising gala with a specific project in mind. Last year, the organization raised funds for a Hillel facility at Simon Fraser University, which opened this fall. This year's gala, held at the Delta Airport Hotel on Dec. 4, raised funds for a full-time staff person at Hillel's University of Victoria office.

Alan M. Marchant, president of Hillel's board of directors, said the strong growth of the student population at UVic was driving the demand for a Hillel presence there.

"We have approximately 100 Jewish students on that campus and many of those students have also studied at UBC, so there is a direct link," he said. The new, full-time staff person will cost the organization about $40,000 a year, and is expected to "do everything."

As Reven Brandt of the Jewish Students' Association at UVic said in his after-dinner speech, the mandate of the Jewish organizations at UVic wasn't focused at first. He said they weren't sure about whether to serve only students on campus or to embrace the entire Jewish community in Victoria. With the new staff person, the focus is expected to be on serving the campus population and retaining strong ties to the UBC office.

Hillel House at UBC was established in 1947 and the Hillel House at SFU opened in September. Over the past two years, these two Hillels have attracted 15,000 students to events and tripled Jewish student enrolment. Three years ago, there were 72 registered students at Hillel. Today, there are nearly 600. The Amazon gala took six months of hard work and Hillel executive director Eyal Lichtmann was clearly pleased with the results. The quality and number of items available for bidding in the silent auction were something to smile about.

The gala was an occasion to socialize for the 400 people who were in attendance, and a rare opportunity to do all one's Chanukah shopping in style while supporting a good cause. Not only was there art, jewelry, wine, gift baskets and books, there were also large and comfy bargains such as a soft leather recliner, worth $2,500. Several people, who were beginning to feel a bit worn out, were seen to be resting their elegantly shod feet on it. But one man, Ed Lewin, decided to put in a bid.

"I'm a big guy, and this is a big recliner," he explained. At the end of the dinner, he was still the only bid on record.

According to Hillel, the support of the Vancouver Jewish community has allowed them to meet their mission of drawing more unaffiliated students to the Jewish community, sending more students to Israel, sending a record number of students on leadership conferences and creating a Jewish home on campus for students.

The gala featured keynote speaker Avraham Infeld, international president of Hillel. Infeld honored UBC president Martha Piper with an Exemplar of Excellence Award, acknowledging the university's strong support of Jewish life on campus.

Monika Ullmann is a freelance writer and editor living in Vancouver. She can be reached at [email protected].

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