Nephew adds to legacy of ‘Jewish Santa’
One final drive aims to lift Mort Greenberg’s lifetime tally over $800K
Sheldon Ehrenworth was thinking about how to honour the memory of his late uncle, Mort Greenberg.
But really, there was only one way.
Ehrenworth knew he had to crank up Greenberg’s legendary charity drive one more time.
For more than six decades, Mort Greenberg was a self-driven giant in charity circles, raising nearly $780,000 for several children’s Christmas charities, including the Proudfoot Corner of the Star’s Santa Claus Fund.
“This is the last one,” Ehren- worth said. “The total amount Mort raised over the years was $778,931. We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice, as a memory of Mort, to raise it to $800,000 or more?’ ”
So Ehrenworth took on the task, creating a website — unclemutty.com, which reflects Greenberg’s well-worn nickname, “Mutty.”
Ehrenworth, along with son Daniel and longtime Greenberg friend Elizabeth Shelton, included donation information, videos and other links to Greenberg, who passed away in April.
Ehrenworth is happy to report he has been able to raise about $15,000 so far.
That money is generously going to the Proudfoot Corner, but also to several other charities Greenberg helped over the years, including the Toronto Sun-Variety Village charity, the Special Olympics, the Kids Help Foundation and the Association for Community Living.
The Proudfoot Corner is part of the Star’s Santa Fund tradition, now in its 113th year, and aims to help 45,000 kids across Toronto receive a gift box at Christmas.
The fund’s target is $1.7 million, but the Star covers all the administrative costs of assembling and delivering the boxes, so all money donated goes right to the cause.
Greenberg contributed more than $110,000 to the Star’s Santa Claus Fund over the years.
“One of his beneficiaries was the Special Olympics, and I remember being with him when they gave him an honorary plaque. He had all these accolades over the years, and I guess they were well-deserved, because people came out of the woodwork to support him,” Ehrenworth said.
Ehrenworth has begun making arrangements for a headstone that will stand at Greenberg’s burial site. The epitaph will be simple, Ehrenworth said.
“The Jewish Santa. That’s how everyone knew him.” GOAL: $1.7 million To donate by cheque, make payable and mail to: Proudfoot Corner/ Santa Claus Fund Toronto Star One Yonge St. 4th floor Toronto, ON M5E 1E6
Online, visit thestar.com/ santaclausfund and email charityinfo@thestar.ca and mention Proudfoot. By phone, call 416-869-4847 and mention Proudfoot. The Star does not allow anyone to solicit on its behalf. Tax receipts will be issued in January, 2019.