Living history

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/12/2009 (5943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sarah Dudeck’s grandfather, Jacob Portnoy, left Russia and settled in Winnipeg in 1908. Seventeen years later, Portnoy sent for his family to join him, including his seven-year-old granddaughter, Sarah.

Growing up, Dudeck’s family lived in houses that "were never very large," but "there was always room for the entire family to gather together" for holidays and other celebrations on Manitoba, Pritchard and Selkirk avenues.

She met her husband, Morris, in 1937, who "unknown to me, had been living just around the corner from me," according to Dudeck’s life story, recorded in the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s Endowment Book of Life.

Dudeck died in October, but her family and generations to come will continue to know a bit about her life because she made a promise to the foundation, through the Book of Life program.

The program allows you to leave your family’s history behind by telling your life story to the foundation and having it added to the book, a plaque and the program’s website.

"My mother wasn’t well off, but in her will she left something to the foundation," said Sarah’s son, Joel.

"She was excited about this. She thought it was one of the best things. She was always concerned about history.

"Many of the people who sign the book come from families from European countries, many who didn’t survive the Holocaust. These were the stories we were losing."

For 12 years, the Endowment Book of Life program has been helping people leave a legacy to the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. The foundation now has more than $70 million and has distributed more than $30 million in grants and scholarships during its 45 years.

The Endowment Book of Life allows people to leave written and visual records of their lives, along with the donations.

Charles Rubin, the Endowment Book‘s chairman, said hundreds of people have stepped forward to sign a promise.

"A number of people have passed on and they have kept their promise — and very generously, too," Rubin said.

"A lot of people are here, they’re gone, and not many people knew them. But with this, someday a child, possibly a grandchild, may look for them and their story will be there.

"It’s a footprint for the future and a footprint for their community’s future."

Marsha Cowan, the foundation’s executive director, said people who agree to be part of the Endowment Book are called signers instead of donors.

That’s because when they sign their names to their family stories, at a special annual ceremony, they are promising to leave a bequest.

Cowan said the average bequest has been about $40,000. Based on average returns, a bequest that size would allow the foundation to pay out about $1,600 to $2,000 annually.

The foundation never touches the principal, but pays out interest generated. The more money in the account, the more it can contribute to worthy causes.

Cowan said the idea for the Endowment Book came from a similar program in the Jewish community in Phoenix, Ariz.

"It’s a great way to encourage philanthropic giving through bequests and at the same time keep family history alive," she said.

Joel Dudeck and his wife, Sharron, have also made promises to the Endowment Book.

"Rather than just giving money to an organization and it is gone immediately, this way they will continue to get something," he said.

"Hopefully the income from what I contribute will cover what I normally give on an annual basis."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Five facts

Endowment Book of Life facts:

"ö Almost 600 people have signed promises to leave bequests to the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.

"ö The Book of Life is the most viewed section on the foundation’s website.

"ö Endowment Book of Life stories have been viewed an average of 845 times per week during the last six weeks.

"ö In the last six weeks, an average of 398 stories were printed per week by users of the website.

"ö In the last six weeks, viewers have been from Canada, the United States, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, China, Israel, Japan, India, Singapore and Australia.