Written by Leslie Sher, Executive Director LTC Foundation
In Jewish tradition, eighteen is not just a number. The Hebrew letters chet and yud add up to 18, and together they spell chai: life. It's why we raise a glass and say l'chaim.
So, it was fitting that the 18th Annual Biking for Bubbies & Zaidies was a year about life, and about how a community keeps it going. This year's ride honoured Morris Schachnow: a beloved father and Zaidie, a respected community leader, and a resident of Hillel Lodge. Morris spent his life helping to build the community. This year, the community rode for him.
There was no single day when the riders gathered at the Lodge. Instead, everyone was invited to “bike their way” - their own route, their own pace, their own reason for riding. Super Sunday bike days gave those separate journeys a shared heartbeat, so that people could ride together.
It might have felt like a smaller event. It was a bigger one.
"Bike your way" asked a rider to make the effort without a cheering crowd or a finish line to cross. It asked them to decide, on an ordinary morning, that the Bubbies and Zaidies of Hillel Lodge are worth the kilometers, then to knock on doors and ask friends and family to stand behind them. Nobody arranged that for them. They chose it, and together they raised almost $200,000.
That choosing is the heart of the story. Eighteen years ago, Joel Diener, Seymour Mender Z”L, Estelle Gunner and Ros Fremeth started Biking for Bubbies with a simple belief: the best way to honour the people who raised us is to show up for them. Since then, this community has raised more than $2.4 million for the people who call Hillel home.
That money goes where it matters most: the extra things no government formula fully covers. It is the difference between being cared for and being cared about. It is the gentle hand at mealtime, the call that connects a resident to their family, and the sense that home is still home. Hillel Lodge is the only Jewish long-term care home between Montreal and Toronto. Rabbi Bulka once called it the "Jewel of the Jewish community," and a jewel stays bright because people keep polishing it.
Chai means life, and life is what continues in the ordinary hours: a meal shared, a video call answered, a familiar face at the door.
Eighteen is a milestone. It is also a blessing, and a community that can give itself one will still be riding for a long time to come. L'chaim.
