Baycrest

BrainMatters • Spring/Summer 2022 • 21 The Baycrest Buddies experience has been truly special during these unprecedented times. It has been amazing to talk and connect with my buddy each week, and I really feel that we have gotten to know each other well over the past year. I am thankful to have been paired with such a nice and caring buddy; but more importantly, am happy that I was able to make a difference in her life. Baycrest Buddies was an unexpected experience, but it was an experience that I'll never forget. - Emma Levin, Camp Manitou I liked the buddy program because it put me in touch with a very young girl who was in her teenage years in high school. We would chat once a week for about 35 minutes or so. I found it very interesting and also very useful, because it taught me about what younger people are thinking about, especially in this terrible COVID time. She would tell me about how school was going for her and I would tell her how things look from my end, and it was a wonderful interchange. I really think it's a good program and I hope that you will continue it. - Shirley Kumove, Baycrest Terraces The Baycrest Buddies Program has helped me form an invaluable friendship with Irene Kurtz. After my long days of schoolwork, Mrs. Kurtz always offers kind support during our phone calls. Our conversations are a highlight of my week, and they have truly made the COVID-19 situation more bearable for both of us. Also, as a history student, the opportunity to talk to Mrs. Kurtz has been priceless. Hearing her bravely and vividly recount her Holocaust survival story has been the honour of a lifetime. I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to write a commendation in her recently published memoir. Mrs. Kurtz has taught me that it is the young generation's responsibility to ensure that the pain endured by an 11-year-old girl from 1939 to 1945 is never forgotten. I have experienced an empathy to her narrative that is impossible to find in a history textbook, and everyone will find her memoir life-changing. I cannot thank the Baycrest Buddies Program enough for connecting me with Mrs. Kurtz. - Adin Aggarwal, Pan Pals Being a part of the Baycrest Buddies experience makes me feel very good. When we first spoke, Adin told me he was very interested in learning about the Holocaust. Since then, he calls me once a week, we speak for an hour, maybe more, and he doesn't miss a week. We always have a huge conversation, mostly about the Holocaust, as he is very interested to know as much as he can, to learn what happened, and how I survived. Adin wants to share my book with other university students, to have many young people read it, so it will never happen again. It means a lot to me. Adin is a wonderful person. We have a really nice relationship, and I'm very grateful for it. - Irene Kurtz, Café Europa

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