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April 1, 2011
Louis Brier seeks multi-year funding
Campaign will allow more stable, cost-effective planning.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
“I believe that our community will understand and embrace this Annual Giving Campaign,” Gary Segal, chair of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital board of directors, told the Independent. “We are entrusted with an important and rather sacred duty to allow our resident elders to live their lives with as much comfort, dignity, care, respect and quality of life that we can afford them.
“It is not some amorphous institution that this campaign is supporting,” he continued. “Whether or not you have a loved one at the Brier, think of your parents, your grandparents, and the level of care and services you would want for them – the kind of care you would want for yourself. We should all count our blessings, do as much as we can and feel good about the real difference these gifts will make in the lives of our elders.”
About how the Annual Giving Campaign differs from previous fundraising efforts, Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation president Harry Lipetz explained that, while the foundation “has traditionally conducted project-based campaigns, such as the Chaplaincy Campaign, Burn the Mortgage, etc., the foundation, in consultation with the board of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital, decided it was time to change to a campaign to raise funds to maintain, sustain and enhance the programs funded by the foundation. These programs include enhanced physio; occupational, art and music therapy; operation of the synagogue; volunteer coordinator; kosher food; etc. It is no secret that the level of government funding to the home, while providing basic care, is not sufficient, alone, to provide the level of care the seniors of our community deserve and their families expect. The residents of the Weinberg Residence also benefit from these programs and the synagogue.
“The campaign this year will be seeking a multi-year commitment to support the foundation,” Lipetz continued. “We are seeking annual pledges for a three-year period. We will be designing a wall to honor those who join together with others in our community who support the multi-year-funding campaign.”
The Louis Brier provides a home and care for 220 seniors. “We do not have a membership to draw upon for support, as other organizations do, and it is the responsibility of the Jewish community to support the home,” said Lipetz. “The foundation hopes that the multi-year campaign will attract new donors, with donations ranging in size, who wish to support the seniors of community in what is often their final home.”
The importance of multi-year funding is stability and reliability, which will allow the Louis Brier to plan and budget more efficiently and cost-effectively, explained Lipetz, adding, “We are extremely grateful to Sam Belzberg and Joe Segal for their ongoing support of the foundation and agreeing to be honorary chairs of the multi-year- commitment campaign.”
The foundation board is comprised of 15 people, each bringing experience and expertise needed in both fundraising and investment of the foundation’s endowment funds, he said. There are also 15 members of the hospital board, as well as people that have been appointed life governors, noted Segal. “Terms for directors run for three years, with a maximum of nine years, but if a director is also serving in the position of chair when the nine years are up, they can continue for up to 12 years on the board (my current situation).
“As these three-year terms are staggered, there is an orderly turnover of a few directors every year. In filling vacancies, we take into account any gaps in skill sets or background that may arise, or look to add expertise, in areas such as accounting, legal, business, ethics, construction or geriatrics, to name a few, and also seek to have balanced board representation in terms of gender, geography and synagogue affiliations. We have been very fortunate in being able to attract very knowledgeable and engaged directors over the years and, as vacancies get filled, the new directors end up bringing a fresh perspective and lots of new energy and ideas to the table,” he continued.
“I am extremely pleased and enthusiastic about this year’s launch of an Annual Giving Campaign, as it is something I have been pushing for the last few years,” Segal explained. “Historically, we have been very successful in raising money for much-needed capital campaigns and endowments for the longer-term needs of the Brier. However, when you consider that, for our elderly residents, the future is, relatively speaking, now, it is just as important for us to have recurring access on an annual basis to unrestricted funds that can be used to enhance the day-to-day lives of our seniors for as long as they stay with us.... I have both seen for myself and been told by people with exposure to other complex-care facilities that we probably take for granted how good we are here in terms of our care, atmosphere, programming, food and facilities.
“Over the years, the long-term care that we are required to provide our eligible residents has become increasingly more complex, so, at the Brier, we cater to a wide range of physical, cognitive and emotional needs,” continued Segal. “As the name states, Louis Brier is both a home and hospital, and we take pride in doing the best job possible in both areas. While naturally there are a number of very ill people at the Brier, it is wrong to look at it as a place of decline. Over my many years of involvement, I have heard about and witnessed what a difference this kind of donation makes in the lives of our residents: previously immobile people enjoying a newfound sense of mobility and independence, extra cultural and therapy programs providing mental stimulation and enjoyment to the participants, loved ones suddenly able to rekindle long-shared but sadly forgotten bonds between them, and creating for our residents the feeling and atmosphere of truly being in a home, not just a hospital.
“My goal from this Annual Giving Campaign is very simple,” Segal concluded. “We are currently blessed and privileged to have a team of very dedicated and devoted staff and volunteers who want to give our elderly residents the best care and quality of life that they can, and a community that has, up to now, enabled us to provide a level of extra services and facilities that make Louis Brier a special place that we can be proud of. I want to raise enough annually committed donations on an ongoing basis to allow our Brier home and hospital not only to sustain with certainty the current level of excellence that we provide, but moreover to enhance that level, so as to make an even greater difference in the quality of life we are able to provide our seniors.”
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