Al Osten donates a ‘game changer’ to Camp BB-Riback

by Maxine Fischbein

(AJNews) – Calgary philanthropist Al Osten has few regrets in life, but one of them is that he never had the opportunity to attend Jewish summer camp.

“We were too poor to afford it,” recalled Osten (né Ostrovsky), who at 95 years young beams with pride at the $1 million gift he pledged to Camp BB-Riback just weeks ago.

Osten’s donation is believed to be the largest single gift ever received by the camp, said outgoing Camp Director Stacy Shaikin, adding that the camp plans to deposit the lion’s share of the gift in an endowment fund so as to protect the principal, ensuring a steady stream of support in perpetuity.

Part of the gift may be devoted to a capital project which has not yet been announced.

“When I talk to people today, they always remember their camp days. That was one of the best parts of their lives, and they still have the friends they made there,” Osten told AJNews.

While his family did not have two nickels to rub together, there was always a pishke (charity box) in the Ostrovsky home, and the door was always open to family and friends.

Osten, who continues to live the lessons he learned at his parent’s knees, has ramped up his already significant charitable giving to civic and Jewish causes by tens of millions over the past few years alone. News of recent gifts supporting arts initiatives in both Calgary and Edmonton has been the stuff of newspaper headlines and radio interviews.

But it is hard to imagine that Osten can smile more broadly than he does at the thought of helping Jewish kids to enjoy the summer of their lives on the shores of Pine Lake.

“Al’s gift is a game changer,” says Jessica Miller Switzer, a former camper who has chaired the Camp BB Riback board of directors for the past three years.

“It ensures a strong and sustainable future for camp BB Riback and provides us with the opportunity to dream bigger than ever before,” Miller Switzer wrote to the camp board as she shared the happy news.

“This moment is massive for our camp family,” Miller Switzer stated. “It is not only a gift, it is a vote of confidence in our future. We must build on this momentum, celebrate it wisely and leverage it to inspire further support from our community.”

According to Shaikin and Miller Switzer, the camp is actively pursuing matching dollars from corporate donors, individuals, and families and has already netted $40 thousand (USD) from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.

Miller Switzer’s dream is for the camp to use the interest from the endowment to help defray the cost of sending kids to camp. She notes that the cost of sending three children to the camp tops $15 thousand, which is financially challenging for most families, especially if they are also sending their kids to Jewish day schools and supporting other community institutions.

Lowering the cost of camp tuitions across the board – and providing additional financial support to families who need additional assistance – would go a long way to giving kids a formative Jewish experience, says Miller Switzer.

“Camp should be accessible for everyone, and I think it can be,” Switzer told AJNews, adding that the ability to open the camp gates wider is a gift to the future of Jewish life in Alberta.

Studies by sociologists have shown that when kids attend Jewish day schools and overnight Jewish camps, it increases the likelihood that they will engage in Jewish life as adults.

Osten told AJNews that he was poised to make a gift elsewhere when several members of the community made the case for his support of Camp BB Riback.

It caused him to fondly recall the late Donna Riback, who chaired the JNF Gala honouring Osten in 2017. Her father, Ted Riback, was a founder and generous supporter of the camp which eventually came to bear his name.

Calgary lawyer and philanthropist Gordy Hoffman was instrumental in facilitating Osten’s gift to the camp. Hoffman also reached out to Calgary architect Harvey Bernbaum – a former camper – who will be sharing his expertise and professional knowledge with camp leaders regarding potential future development at the camp.

Hoffman’s son JJ – a former Camp BB camper and counselor and its first-ever mountain bike specialist – has been an avid volunteer at the camp for years. The owner of Cutline Developments Inc., a landscaping and construction company, JJ recently advised the camp on potential repairs and upgrades to its sports courts – which he and a colleague in the concrete business had offered to complete on a sub-profit basis.

When the project was delayed due to the need for fundraising, JJ talked to his own friends, some of whom stepped up with donations. He also spoke with his father, who, in turn, spoke with Osten.

“It’s all about relationships,” says Stacy Shaikin, who is thrilled that the camp received Osten’s transformational gift on his watch, following his eighth and final season as camp director.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better way to go out,” Shaikin said. “Maybe some of the dreams that I had when I came into the job have now come to fruition.”

To be sure, Shaikin worked hard at realizing those dreams, having retired the camp’s debt while fundraising for and completing vital capital projects. Now, Osten’s gift will give the camp much-needed forward momentum.

“We are asking the community to share in this with Al,” said Shaikin, who describes Camp BB-Riback as the “hub of the Alberta Jewish community,” the only local organization he can think of that serves both Calgary and Edmonton.

“The camp is important to Jewish youth, especially nowadays,” says JJ Hoffman, who grew up with Shaikin and shares his passion for BB Riback.

“With antisemitism and all the chaos in the world, it is more important than ever to give to the camp and the schools, where we can foster Jewish identity,” added Hoffman. “Kids need to grow up loving their Judaism, loving their community, loving the places that basically shape their future.”

With the news of Osten’s gift, the entire camp community is smiling, but none as broadly as their benefactor.

“The last few years have been the happiest in my life,” Osten told AJNews. “I’m so proud of the things we’ve been doing.”

The “we” refers to the late Buddy Victor, Osten’s showbiz, business, and life partner, who passed away in 2023 but whose name lives on in all the couple’s charitable works, bringing Osten much comfort and many happy memories.

Osten and Victor met when they were singers in the Rover Boys, a 1950s quartet whose hit song Graduation Day is still fondly remembered. They even helped to discover legendary singer Paul Anka who later acknowledged their early support in his autobiography.

After living for a time in New York City, Osten and Victor settled in Edmonton, where Osten – born in Saskatoon – had been raised. They achieved business success following their ground-floor entry into the weight-loss industry with their purchase of the Alberta and Saskatchewan Weight Watchers franchise.

That meeting changed the course of Victor and Osten’s life.

For one thing they lost a lot of weight. As their waistlines shrunk, their business grew, necessitating Osten’s move to Calgary while Victor continued to helm the Edmonton office.

Thanks to a relationship they had with a Weight Watchers friend, Mildred Oppenheimer, Osten and Victor began investing in Broadway shows, some of which became major hits, including Hairspray (2002), Little Shop of Horrors (2003), Sweeney Todd (2005), and Young Frankenstein (2009).

Prudent investment through the years allowed Osten and Victor – who did not have children of their own – to build and then generously share their legacy, taking care of kin and the causes nearest their big hearts.

Osten told AJNews that the couple’s charitable efforts in both Edmonton and Calgary have been built around four pillars: Hospice and healthcare (or, as Osten puts it, “living and dying with dignity”); children and youth; the arts; and religious organizations, with emphasis on Jewish and Catholic charities, consistent with Osten and Victor’s respective faiths.

Through their Osten-Victor fund at the Calgary Foundation and Victor-Osten Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation, they have supported countless worthwhile organizations and institutions, like the Roozen Family Hospice Centre in Edmonton and Ronald McDonald Houses in both Edmonton and Calgary, to name but a few.

Within the Jewish community, beneficiaries have included Temple B’nai Tikvah – where Al is a much-cherished congregant, Calgary Jewish Federation/UJA, Jewish Family Service Calgary, CHW, the Beth Tzedec Congregation Jewish Film Festival, Chabad Lubavitch, and JNF.

Funds donated by Osten and other supporters at the 2017 JNF Negev Gala gave a boost to the Israel Tennis Centre, with funds earmarked for programs facilitating the integration of Ethiopian immigrants, youth with disabilities, and other at-risk groups while modeling the peaceful co-existence of Arabs and Jews through a unifying love for sports.

Osten’s $500 thousand gift to CIJA (the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs) – announced this past July – supports that organization’s first-ever office in Calgary, helping to boost local advocacy for Israel and the Jewish community.

In recent years, Osten has also pledged an after-lifetime gift to a broad range of Jewish communal organizations via the Life & Legacy program, an initiative of the Massachusetts-based Harold Grinspoon Foundation that is coordinated locally by the Jewish Community Foundation of Calgary and the Calgary Jewish Federation.

It is impossible to list all the civic organizations in both Calgary and Edmonton that have benefited from Al Osten and Buddy Victor’s philanthropy. Their donation some years back to the Art Gallery of Alberta’s New Vision building capital campaign was described by the AGA as “pivotal,” and they later donated many works of art to the AGA. In Calgary, the Osten and Victor Alberta Tennis Centre is making a difference in the lives of young tennis players.

A former member of the board of directors at Theatre Calgary, Osten is proud that the legacy fund they endowed there has, among other things, subsidized ticket prices, making theatre accessible to more Calgarians.

Recent major gifts – dizzying in their scope – reflect Al and Buddy’s shared love for the performing arts. They include a $5 million gift to the Glenbow Museum – which will feature a 150-seat Osten-Victor theatre – and a $12 million gift to the Werklund Centre which will house the state-of-the-art Osten-Victor Playhouse at the Werklund Centre, previously known as Arts Commons.

Another eponymous performance space Osten is excited to have gifted to Calgarians is the Osten-Victor Inspiration Studio, a state-of-the-art, accessible theatre/dance workshop venue that will be part of the Multidisciplinary Disability Community Arts Hub (MDCAH) Project of The National accessArts Centre in Calgary.

Other philanthropic projects are currently in the works, says Osten whose friends sometimes warn him he is giving it all away.

“That’s the plan,” he replies, counterintuitively adding, “The more you give, the more you get.”

“It shoots me to the moon,” says Osten.

Jessica Miller Switzer has a more modest travel proposal for Osten.

“We want to bring Al out to BB-Riback this spring,” said Miller Switzer.

How heartwarming is that? Al Osten will finally go to camp!

Maxine Fischbein is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter