At the Foundation’s Annual General Meeting in June, we were thrilled to welcome our first Co-Presidents, Roslyn Wiener and Allan Chandler. Both Roz and Allan, who just completed his two-year term as President, are exceptionally dedicated volunteers at both the Cummings Centre and Foundation, bringing a wealth of experience, energy, and a co-operative spirit to their new roles.

Roz Wiener is a dynamic presence in and around the Cummings Centre, where she was President from 2017-2019, after previously being Vice President and serving on numerous committees.

“I have always been inspired by my mother as someone dedicated to community,” says Roz, recalling her mother’s involvement at Hadassah-WIZO and other organizations. In turn, Roz has passed on her passion for volunteerism to her two grown daughters who are also involved in community causes, as well as being mothers to Roz’s four granddaughters, ranging in age from 7 to 21.

Following in the footsteps of her two sisters, Roz began her career as a teacher. When her children were in high school, she became Executive Director of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, the first Canadian office of the international wish-granting organization. While the job could be emotional, it was also inspiring. “It was very heartwarming … dealing with the families and seeing how optimistic the kids were, and how upbeat the parents were.” Roz’s next role was as Executive Director of the Canadian Technion Society. “It was stimulating and merged well with my background in education and fundraising.”

When she retired in 2005, Roz came by the Cummings Centre to pay a visit to Lynn Gordon, Director of Volunteer Services – who had been her camper when she was a counselor at Camp Hiawatha in Sainte-Agathe – and was soon inspired by all the Centre had to offer.

“The Cummings Centre provides wonderful opportunities to people who are looking for something new in their lives that will either help them to grow in new directions or help them to give back – wherever their interests lie,” says Roz, continuing, “It’s such an important place … not only for its courses and programs but because of the people it helps: those who benefit from dementia programs or adapted exercise programs, Holocaust survivors who have a place to go and meet – there are just so many needs that Cummings fills.”

Looking ahead, Roz expects many more needs to come up in the future: “So many of the older generation of our seniors have suffered throughout the pandemic, unable to see their families, or even to go shopping – it made life very lonely and very difficult. Our Foundation’s work is more important than it ever has been.”

A chartered accountant by profession, Allan Chandler loves numbers, searching out problems – and finding solutions. As Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Maxwell Cummings & Sons Holdings Limited, the management arm of the Cummings family of Montreal, he has worked in the same building on Sherbrooke Street West for more than 50 years. Allan and his wife Diane have three grown children and five grandchildren, including identical twin boys born last year.

Now “theoretically” working just one day a week, Allan dedicates an abundance of time to Cummings Centre Foundation business, bringing a lighthearted sense of humour along with his exacting eye.

Allan’s first introduction to Cummings was as a volunteer waiter at the Centre’s Le Café in 2012. Intrigued and impressed by the range of activity at the Centre and those it served, he got involved in several committees, becoming Treasurer of the Foundation Board in 2015.

“I love every minute of the work helping people,” says Allan, “and I love accounting and financial statements.” Allan also notes Montreal’s aging population and how many of the younger generation have left Montreal. “We are also committed to getting the right people ready to replace us.”

Going into his new term as Co-President, Allan is enthusiastic: “This is the strongest professional team the Foundation has ever had. There are so many great people involved who have also become great friends. And Roz and I have worked together on many committees and get along extremely well.”

Roz concurs, “Allan and I have the same focus. He has a great sense of humour and a very big heart.”

Both are looking forward to that first day when everyone can be back at the Centre and see familiar faces. “When we actually do that,” says Roz, “it will be a great celebration.”