Jennie Blitz (CHW Toronto)

Jennie Blitz is the Director of Tax Credits and Financing Programs at Ontario Creates; the provincial government agency that facilitates economic development and investment in Ontario’s creative industries, including the book, film, television, and interactive digital media sectors.

Jennie has been with Ontario Creates since 2004. Prior to that she was a policy advisor to the former Minister of Culture David Tsubouchi. Jennie is a lawyer by training and received her LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School (although she doesn’t practice law now).

She is a lifetime supporter of CHW, having joined in 2002 with CHW Toronto Miriam Chapter. She is currently part of CHW Toronto L’Netzach Chapter. Between the two Chapters, Jennie has held positions such as President and Fundraising Chair and served CHW Toronto on the Mentorship Committee. She was honoured to represent CHW when she attended the Aviv Conference in Israel in 2009.

Jennie is thrilled to be serving as a CHW Director and is looking forward to meeting colleagues from across Canada.

Marcia Glick (CHW Kitchener-Waterloo)

Marcia is proud to have served as CHW National Treasurer for the past two years and will continue to do so for the next two years.

She enjoyed the opportunity to use her skills to help our cause, for which she feels a great passion and has great respect and admiration for the volunteers and staff.

She joined the CHW Kitchener-Waterloo Sharon Chapter in 1982. She served as Chapter Treasurer and President and then as Council President. She sat on several fundraising committees and served as Co-Chair of the Annual Campaign in K-W for many years. She is a lifetime member, a Sustainer, a Keyholder, a Major Donor, and a member of the Legacy Circle. She earned an honours psychology degree and a master’s in cognitive psychology from the University of Waterloo. She went on to complete an MBA with a major in accounting from York University.

Subsequently, Marcia worked at KPMG for over 20 years as an accountant in the Independent Business group and the Tax group with a focus on Estates and Trusts and personal taxation.

Marcia has been married to Bernie for over 50 years. Her son and daughter-in-law have blessed her with three grandchildren, who are the light of her life.

Dorothy Hanson (CHW Calgary)

Dorothy Hanson was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. After graduating from American Academy of Dramatic Arts in California, she acquired a BA in psychology from the University of Calgary. Dorothy then moved to Vancouver, BC, where she obtained an executive secretarial diploma, then worked in theatre administration and as a talent agent. Eventually, she and her husband, Sheldon, owned a Belgian chocolate shop in West Point Grey, Vancouver. In 1998, they moved back to Calgary to start a family.

Before taking on the role of CHW Calgary Centre President in April 2021, Dorothy had been involved with CHW for many years. She had chaired the Connections Tea, co-chaired Games Day and served as Master of Ceremony at the latter. She was also one of the actors in the musical Ladies Who Lunch, with all proceeds going to Youth Aliyah.

Dorothy’s following in the footsteps of her mother, Lucille Hanson^z”l. She served as Treasurer and President of a CHW Calgary Chapter over many years and was an integral part of the annual Hadassah Bazaar. Dorothy hopes her daughter Davita will one day follow in her footsteps as well.

Dorothy is also on the executive of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta and is a member of the Minyan League at Beth Tzedec synagogue.

Dorothy believes that everything we do as an organization should be with reverence to the past; that will guide us into CHW’s future.

Barb Rosenstein (CHW Toronto)

Barb Rosenstein is a committed CHW volunteer and supporter. She is passionate about CHW’s projects in Israel, and truly feels our collective responsibility is to empower CHW to fulfill its mandate. As such, Barb has had numerous opportunities to understand and connect with CHW’s important mission as a leading philanthropic organization.

Currently, Barb is CHW Toronto Centre President and has taken a leadership role, alongside many talented CHW volunteers and professionals, to ensure the success of numerous CHW initiatives at both the Centre and National levels. As CHW Toronto Centre Vice-President (2020-2022), Barb chaired two very successful Toronto Annual Campaigns. She was twice Co-Chair of the CHW Walk to Protect Children, which raised more than $100,000 each of two years. Barb also Co-Chaired the Toronto Centre Mentorship program.

As a member of Tamid Chapter for many years Barb held numerous positions, including Chapter President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Event Co-Chair for two terms.

Professionally, Barb is a digital health consultant, with over 25 years of experience leading professional teams through large-scale digital transformation in the health services sector. Barb has a bachelor of nursing degree from McMaster University and a master of science degree from the University of Toronto.

On a personal note, Barb and her husband Jerry, a proud CHW supporter, have visited Israel several times, including visits to CHW projects.

Stephanie Rusen (CHW Vancouver)

Seventeen years ago, Stephanie Rusen joined CHW and discovered a whole new world of caring, giving, and friendship. Nine years later, she became the CHW Vancouver Centre President and never looked back. Stephanie has also held other positions at the Centre and National level, including Centre Treasurer and National Leaders Assembly.

Stephanie has a professional background as an Insurance Broker and owned her own company for 14 years. She also owned her own daycare centre for 10 years and taught elementary school French.

Stephanie believes the dedication of our volunteers makes a difference in the lives of people in Israel, so much so that she stepped up for a second term as CHW Vancouver Centre President (2020-2022) and then as a CHW Director in 2020. During her time at CHW, Stephanie discovered leadership qualities that she never knew she had. She is really looking forward to working with this new Board of Directors as they continue making that special difference so unique to CHW.

Ariella Schachter (CHW Montreal)

Ariella Schachter is a native Montrealer who recently returned to her hometown after living in New York for nearly 15 years. She is a mom of two girls, aged 7.5 and 5. Her family has a long history of involvement and support of Israel and is on the board of The Eldee Foundation and The Jerusalem Foundation.

Ariella is an advisor to ‘Frank’ a unique leadership community for women. She has a background in digital marketing and strategy and account direction.

While in New York, Ariella worked at top digital ad agencies for Fortune 100 brands, followed by nearly ten years at Google on an Internal Creative Think Tank Team serving Google’s top clients.

Currently, she is working on special projects and consulting for ‘BFF’, a Web3 company whose mission is to onboard women and non-binary people into the forecasted $10 Trillion Web3 market.
Her late grandmother, Neri Bloomfield, served as National President for CHW, and Ariella is excited to get more involved and help CHW raise awareness among a new generation.

Linda Senzilet (CHW Ottawa)

Linda was introduced to CHW in the early 1980s by the late Terry Schwarzfeld z’’l, our beloved past National President. She felt an immediate connection to the organization and has been active in CHW Ottawa Centre ever since.

Over the past 40 years, Linda assumed a range of executive and chairperson roles at the Chapter and Centre levels, including President of Amit Chapter and Co-President of CHW Ottawa Centre. Since 2020, she has been a member of the CHW Board of Directors, assuming the role of National Secretary.

In her professional life, she worked for nearly 40 years in the health sector, in direct patient care, and then for the federal government as an epidemiologist and senior policy advisor.

Tova Train (CHW Toronto)

Tova Train joined CHW in 1994. She has been an active member of CHW Toronto’s Tamid Chapter, and she previously held the position of Secretary, Event Co-Chair, and President and remained Past-President until 2020.

In 2015, Tova took on the Chair of the newly established Toronto Centre Resource and Technology Committee. In that capacity, she led the team from the development and launch of the Go Guide, a Chapter resource for running events.

She became Toronto Centre Vice-President in 2016, National Gala Co-Chair for the 2017 Centennial Gala, and Toronto Centre President in 2018. In addition to being Toronto Centre Past-President, Tova is currently a member of the Board of Directors. As a CHW Director, she has Co-Chaired both the inaugural S.O.S Campaign in 2021 and Fashion Blooms in 2022.

Looking forward to her next term on the Board of Directors, Tova intends to contribute to the strengthening of our national centres and work with the team on innovative fundraising.