Each year, the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s Annual Community Campaign raises funds so that every facet of our community can be supported. This year’s theme, Here for Good, speaks to the generations of Jews in Ottawa and beyond who have been impacted by Federation’s work over the last nine decades. The Campaign is guided by three pillars: ensuring Jewish life, inspiring Jewish connections, and securing our Jewish future.
To show how these pillars come to life, the communications and development teams created messaging and collateral featuring photos from today alongside images from our collective past, courtesy of the Ottawa Jewish Archives.
“This is to stress that Federation not only has been here for 92 years—that we’re here permanently doing good—but that our goal is to do good in the community,” said Federation’s Vice President of Communications Pauline Colwin. “One of the ways we wanted to show that was through pictures from our past and our present, so we turned to the Archives.”
There are eight photos in all, four historical and four current, each pairing illustrating how the pillars guide Federation’s work.
“I was excited when [Colwin] and [Vice President of Development Michael Reznick] came to me and said that this was this year’s theme and they’d be using the Archive’s photos,” said Archivist Teigan Goldsmith Hitsman. “This community was built by a lot of the members who are in these photos.”
Ensuring Jewish Life
Federation safeguards schools and synagogues, supports vulnerable people, and fights antisemitism. To reflect this pillar, a photo from the Ottawa Jewish Community School was used of a grandmother with her twin granddaughters.
This image was paired with children receiving gifts from Herman Roodman during a 1950s Chanukah celebration, underscoring intergenerational connection.
Inspiring Jewish Connections
Earlier this summer, AJA 50+ went strawberry picking. A picture of Saul Davidson, smiling with a handful of fresh berries, is paired with a 1938 image of Joannie Caplan (born Joan Gluck) in her backyard. “It’s showing how we’ve been connected for many decades, from young children through programs like PJ Library to our sprightly, active seniors through AJA 50+,” said Colwin.
Securing our Jewish Future
Federation invests in the future by training leaders, supporting immersive Jewish experiences, and evolving giving practices. A photo of Rabbi Reuven Bulka z”l at a freedom rally for Soviet Jews is paired with an image from this year’s March of the Living cohort, showing continuity of purpose. Federation’s Young Adults Engagement and Impact Grants Associate Oren Baray chaperoned this year after participating as a 16-year-old in 2018.
“Not only are they being encouraged to be leaders now in their community, but we’re connecting them to their Jewish homeland and energizing them as leaders so they end up being here for our future,” said Colwin.
Federation also secures Jewish futures through grassroots programs, cultural celebrations, and meaningful partnerships that bring together newcomers and long-time residents, young adults and seniors, and interfaith families. The J-Fellows program develops young adult leadership through mentorship opportunities, interactive sessions on workplace leadership, decision making, and personal growth, culminating in a business proposal to stakeholders. A present-day photo from the inaugural Dorot event, where J-Fellows presented their ideas, is paired with a 1942 image of Alex Polowin and his sister, Sheila Polowin Hammer. Polowin (1924–2022) was an Ottawa-raised Royal Canadian Navy veteran who escorted Arctic convoys and later spoke widely to students about his World War II service.
“We asked ourselves what leadership looked like in the 1940s,” said Colwin. “We saw people who stood up and fought for freedom and for our country, and Alex Polowin is a perfect example of that.” The historic photo, taken at York Street Public School, also situates where the community was once centred in Lowertown and how it has evolved.
Watch for these images in Federation’s messaging as well as in the community and on the Jewish campus. To learn more about Federation’s 2026 Annual Community Campaign, click here.
