Why We Give · Alan & Shayna
Generations of Giving: A Grandfather and Granddaughter Team Up for Baycrest
A Passover challenge, a school project, and a ten-year-old who knew exactly which charity deserved her grandfather's support.
About this series
Welcome to Why We Give, a new series from the Baycrest Foundation. In each instalment we sit down with the people behind the gifts: donors, families, volunteers and friends. They tell us, in their own words, what moved them to give. Their reasons are as varied as they are: a memory, a diagnosis, a debt of gratitude, a promise to a loved one. Together their stories reveal the many reasons people choose generosity, and the lasting difference it makes.
We begin with a story that started at a Passover table.
This past Passover, Alan Shiner issued a challenge to his four young granddaughters: research a charity, present the case for it, and convince him to donate. His ten-year-old granddaughter, Shayna, knew immediately where her heart lay. Baycrest.
The choice was a personal one. Alan's aunt had been cared for at Baycrest, and the compassion she received made a lasting impression on the family. Shayna's grandmother, Alan's wife Faye, had volunteered here as well. Baycrest was already part of the family's story. Shayna simply picked up the thread.
How One School Project Sparked a Gift
Shayna had been learning about charity and fundraising at school through Project Give Back, an educational initiative at Bialik Elementary School that engages students in charitable causes. Students choose a cause, present it to their classmates, and write a letter to the organization reflecting on what they have learned.
In her letter to Baycrest, Shayna wrote a simple, powerful sentence.
Armed with her Project Give Back slideshow and her research, Shayna made her pitch. It won her grandfather over completely, and Alan made a gift to the Baycrest Foundation.
Seeing the Impact Firsthand
For Alan, philanthropy has never been about writing a cheque. It is about staying connected to the community a gift is meant to serve. So he and Faye brought Shayna to the Baycrest campus to see it for herself.
The warmth of the place made an immediate impression.
During the visit, Shayna was invited to speak as a special guest at three Shabbat programs across campus, reading her letter aloud to resident elders and answering their questions. For Alan, watching his ten-year-old granddaughter address those rooms with clarity, warmth and respect for her audience was the undeniable highlight of the day.
About Project Give Back
Project Give Back is an educational initiative at Bialik Elementary School that engages students in charitable causes. Each student selects a charity, researches it, delivers a presentation to classmates, and writes a letter to the organization reflecting on the experience.
Raising the Next Generation of Givers
Shayna is not finished. Inspired by what she saw, she plans to come back and volunteer at Baycrest as soon as she is old enough.
For Alan, that outcome meant everything.
Every gift begins with a reason
Why We Give shares those reasons, and the people behind them. If you have a story you would like to tell, we would love to hear it.
Share your storyRelated Articles: Volunteering, Donors, People, Brain Matters
