In 1999 Joseph Segal Z’L was instrumental in helping raise the initial capital funding necessary to build the very first Yaffa House facility, which subsequently opened its doors to its first residents in 2001.
Today, The Vancouver Yaffa Housing Society remains western Canada’s only group home with in-house support exclusively dedicated to serving Jewish adults with Serious Mental Illnesses (SMI), including schizo-affective disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, personality disorder, bipolar-mood disorder, major depressive disorder, autism Asperger’s disorder, to name just a few.
More than just subsidized housing, Yaffa House provides kosher meals, Jewish cultural and religious programming, onsite mental health support and supervision, while actively promoting community inclusion, awareness, and education.
Joseph Segal’s last meeting to discuss charity fund-raising was in his own home just days before his passing, with the leadership of Vancouver Yaffa Housing Society.
Joe’s explicit wish expressed during that final meeting was to help the Vancouver Yaffa Housing Society receive the funding and support necessary towards being able to continue providing their essential services to our Jewish community’s most vulnerable, into perpetuity.
We are ever grateful to the entire Segal family for supporting the Yaffa House cause as part of Joseph Segal’s legacy.
Our Sincere Condolences to Joe’s loving wife Rosalie, his children Gary, Lorne, Sandra, and Tracey, their spouses, the grandchildren and great-granchildren.
Joseph Segal Z’L and Avie Estrin, Yaffa II Inauguration 2010
