When Phyllis Toback moved into Selfhelp shortly after the death of her beloved husband, Gary, she quickly became a regular at the concerts, exercise classes, storytelling, lectures, Friday night Shabbat dinners, and holiday celebrations. Born and raised in New York, she and Gary moved to Chicago in 1974 where they put down roots and connected deeply into the South Shore Jewish community. Together, they helped found the Rohr Chabad Center at the University of Chicago. Since then, Phyllis has supported many other Jewish organizations, including a deep support for Rabbi Aaron Wolf and the Chicago Mitzvah Campaign. Phyllis mentioned she cherishes being able to support the beautiful work being done by CMC for Jewish seniors and families throughout Chicago.
Phyllis has also showered Selfhelp with her generosity over the years by providing the beautiful mezuzot throughout the home and the menorah in the lobby. “These are important aspects to Jewish life,” Phyllis shared, “and it feels good to be able to provide them to our home.”
Recently, Phyllis also made a generous donation to help improve the in-room video system at Selfhelp. As Phyllis says, “It’s a great resource for us to be able to watch programming from our rooms, but the system just doesn’t work right.” With this gift, the Activities Department has begun to find a new in-room video system that allows residents to have better quality while watching movies from the comfort of their rooms.