The Bercovicis: angels without wings
by Robert J. Galbraith
Few Montrealers realize what it would be like for a child to go to school hungry. But this is the reality for thousands of school children who wake each morning to an empty fridge, and head off to school on an empty stomach.
Sometimes we are so caught up in our consumerist world and the quest for riches and success that we like to think that hunger only happens in far off places.
But childhood hunger, like a daily nightmare, exists here in our very own Shangri-La, though the very thought of it makes us turn away. Like a disease, hunger robs the mind of clear thought and renders our innocents, our children, to a classification lower than our well-fed pets. I know. I was one of those children 46 years ago.
My childhood was a living hell of scavenging through garbage dumps and coming home from school to a supper of a sugar sandwich and a cup of milkless tea. I remember walking along the railway tracks in Paisley, Scotland, scrounging for chunks of coal to heat our flat.
So, when I walked into La Stanza Buffet and Grill last Thursday, my heart hit the floor and my eyes welled up. I had to challenge the ghosts in my closet – those of my own childhood hunger.
But this story is not about me, it is a story about angels. These angels have no wings, though they have the power to make others fly and dream that better things are lying just down the road.
Two of these angels are Adrian and Natalie Bercovici, who, leading dozens of similar-minded people, bring us the Generations Foundation bi-annual breakfast fundraiser at La Stanza Buffet and Grill in Ville St. Laurent.
This is the 7th year the breakfast has been held, and it has now raised over one million dollars for Montreal children. Generations provides breakfasts, lunches and snacks for 60 schools and learning centres, involving 6,000 kids. They also send 300 kids to summer camp to paddle canoes and roast marshmallows over crackling campfires.
Adrian and Natalie are humble people who avoid the lights of celebrity and self back-patting. They are on a mission to spread compassion and love among their fellows. This love is evident through the many sponsors and supporters of Generations that the Bercovicis have attracted to their cause. These sponsors include Global Television, La Stanza Buffet and Grill, Montreal Matrix Basketball Team, Hasbro Toys, Chopin, the Montreal Canadiens, and Steve’s Music.
This fundraiser is not so much about getting your company’s name in the newspaper, as it is about how you sleep at night without selfish thought. Truly, the destiny of man is not about self-gain but about paving a better destiny for those with so little. If this is the secret of life, then the Bercovicis and their numerous supporters have cracked it.
As though quoted from a Charles Dickens novel, 11-year-old Troy McMorris, of Purcell Academy in Pierrefonds, and an attendee at the latest Generations breakfast, asked me to tell all who contributed, “Thank-you, and keep on doing this until one day everyone can have a better lifestyle and be happy again!”
Any corporation, group or individual wishing to contribute or enquire about the Generations Foundation, is asked to contact Natalie at: (514) 933-8585. Email: charity@generationsfoundation.com.
