AProjects and initiatives > Anti-violence
Anti-violence
The Jewish Family Services-Sharon Steinberg Project is an innovative and wide-ranging initiative intended to prevent violence through education. The project allows for the development of a variety of programs that target children, adolescents and adults. Some of the projects that have been implemented include:
- Parlour meetings in which parents gather to talk in the comfort and privacy of their own homes about the challenges of being a parent
- Conflict resolution sessions in schools where children learn peaceful ways to solve problems
- Outreach to the Orthodox community, including training sessions with an Orthodox rabbi on the subject of violence
- Crisis intervention
Background:
Sharon Steinberg has always felt strongly about violence - about the damage emotional and physical violence can do and the community's responsibility to work to prevent it. As a long time volunteer with a Montreal shelter for women and children who have been victims of domestic violence, she observed firsthand the fallout of violence. When Sharon faced surgery for a serious health condition, she decided to get serious about estate planning. "I decided I wanted to make my legacy to the community in my lifetime," she said.
Sharon Steinberg hopes for the project to expand to include programs for prospective brides and grooms, to teach them about the importance of treating each other with respect and love - and without violence.
In addition to her generous endowment, Sharon Steinberg has opted to stay on as part of the projects directorship, to help steer its course. "If you work as a volunteer," she said, "you eventually come up with unmet needs in the community - and it is exciting to try something new."