Why I Give: Leah Deslauriers on Building a Community Legacy
At its heart, the JWest project is not just about concrete and glass. It’s about the people who fill the halls and the stories they carry with them. Every contribution to this campaign represents a personal commitment to the future of our community. Today, we are honoured to share the story of Leah Deslauriers, a lifelong supporter whose recent gift, made in loving memory of her parents, Saul and Julie Goldberg z”l, is helping turn our shared vision into reality.
A Lifetime of Connection
Leah Deslauriers has a simple way of explaining her relationship with the Jewish Community Centre. And she means it almost literally: Her father became a life-long member the moment the JCC doors opened on Oak Street, and it was there where he met his future wife, Julie, over a game of badminton in 1963.
Leah was born into this community with the JCC being a constant backdrop to her childhood. She swam at the centre, attended day camp, and was a camp counsellor in her teens. Life took her in different directions, but the JCC always called her back. She returned in 1988, raised her own children here, and joined the JCC professionally in 2007.
“The JCC has so much meaning and soul that goes beyond any building. I was raised here. My parents were raised here. And now I’ve raised my kids here. The JCC is woven into who my family is, and who I am,” says Leah.
That sense of belonging eventually shaped her career. Today, Leah is the director of the L’Chaim Adult Day Centre, a culturally Jewish program for seniors managing health challenges, offering supervised programming, socialization and care in a familiar environment. It is, in many ways, a reflection of everything the JCC has always meant to Leah: a place where people come together and are reminded that they belong.
Leah and her dad at the Jewish Community Centre
The connection runs even deeper. When her mother, Julie, developed Alzheimer’s and eventually transitioned into L’Chaim herself, Leah found herself caring for her mother alongside the very community she had grown up in — friends’ partners, familiar faces, people she had known her entire life.
“Who gets to spend time with their parents every day? I was able to care for my mother, care for the Jewish community I grew up in, and look after people I love. How lucky am I?” says Leah.
Tzedakah and the Future of the JCC
In 2024 and 2025, Leah lost her brother, her father and her mother. With each passing, she felt the impact the JCC had on her family, but even more so, the responsibility of ensuring it would have the same meaningful impact on those who came after. Because of this, Leah honoured her father on his yahrzeit, the annual anniversary of his passing, by making her gift in both her parents’ memory to the JWest.
“My father was a J member until he passed. He had so much love for our Jewish community, for every person and program that was part of it. So many people carry these kinds of memories of the JCC, which is exactly why it was so important for me to give: to help revitalize a space that so badly needs it, and to ensure that future generations find their way here, just like I did,” says Leah.
Investing in the Next Generation
What excites Leah most about JWest is not just the buildings themselves, but what they will make possible: a beating heart in a new and revitalized space for Vancouver’s Jewish community, with seniors, students and young families all having a chance to experience it.
“The JCC is part of who you are and who you become. If you grew up in Vancouver and are Jewish, there is no way you didn’t become part of the JCC at some point. But the building is tired, and it needs some love — we can’t keep patching it up.”
When asked what her parents would say about the future and JWest, Leah doesn’t hesitate. “They’d say it’s about time. My mother and father loved their Jewish community deeply. They would have given, because this is what you do when something matters.”
Saul and Julie Goldberg z”l
Whether you are motivated by memories of a childhood spent at the JCC, by a desire to honour someone you love, or simply by the belief that our Jewish community’s future is worth investing in, now is the moment. Join Leah and many others who are building something that will last for generations.
To learn more about ways to give and the project, please contact info@jwestnow.com or call 604-808-2440.
The JWest project would not be possible without the generous funding from the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia, the Diamond Foundation, and the Ronald S. Roadburg and Al Roadburg Foundations, as well as the steadfast support of the Jewish community and its allies, and the valuable contributions of the Vancouver residents who use the current Jewish Community Centre.