By Marshall Shapiro — Tribune Correspondent
For the past four years, Sam Rogozinsky, 83, has been a fixture just inside the doors of the Dominion Store at Bathurst and Sheppard. If you’ve shopped there, he probably asked you for your sales slip for charity. He never asked for money, just the cash register receipt. Sam is one of several sales slip collectors throughout Toronto. He is the branch vice president of the Topaz Branch of Foresters, a fraternal, philanthropic society that provides financial and insurance benefits for its members and is renowned for supporting a wide range of charitable activities. Sam and his ‘team’ collect thousands of sales slips. They are then totalled and presented to Dominion’s head office, where they are redeemed for donations to institutions such as Cummer Lodge — where Sam’s wife Tillie has been a patient for several years. Sam spends most of each day with her, feeding and caring for her.
“I go every day,” he said, “and visit with other patients who don’t see anyone.”
Sam comforts patients who appear to have been forgotten by their families. He is loved by the nursing staff who refer to him as “an angel.” But this is not a good guy/bad guy story. According to Sam, his problems began when a new manager was appointed at the store six months ago. She immediately ordered him to leave the premises and not return.
According to chain management, their policy has never permitted in-store collection of receipts. However, that has not been their practice. Being ordered to leave the store didn’t stop Sam who had survived a concentration camp in Poland during WWII. He set up shop outside the store and continued to collect. But winter is bearing down and spending hours outdoors in the snow and cold is not something Sam’s doctor would recommend.
Sam had been incarcerated in Stutthof concentration camp founded in 1939 in what is now northern Poland. Sam, who refers to the camp as ‘Hoff,’ was assigned to the fire department and served as a fireman. Following the war, he came to Canada and established a Kosher butcher shop at Bathurst and Sheppard. Known as Sam’s Kosher Meat, it established him as a neighbourhood icon. It’s the reason why Sam is adamant about remaining at that corner.
Enter Frank Dimant. The B’nai Brith executive vice president, while shopping at the store, noticed Sam was not at his normal perch. When asked why he was standing outside, he told the story of his expulsion. Dimant told the Jewish Tribune.
What bothers Sam is that Dominion Stores has seemingly singled him out. The collectors at the other stores are still allowed to operate inside and Dominion, to their credit, still redeems the sales slips on a basis of $1 for every $450 in receipts. Personnel in the store refused to discuss the matter. Tammy Smitham, Communications Manager, A&P Canada — owners of Dominion Stores, Food Basics and other chains — said, “We have recently refocused our charitable donations and social marketing program. We took the opportunity to review our current programs to ensure that they were being executed as intended.”
“The Save-A-Tape program has been a part of our company’s giving back to the community for more than two decades and we provide close to $470,000 in donations to community groups through this program each year.” She emphasized that the program allows community groups to collect tapes in their place of meeting and bring them to Dominion at the end of the year to receive this donation.
“Through our Save-A-Tape program and local store donations,” she said, “we support the communities in which our stores operate. The Save-A-Tape program was not designed to be a general solicitation tool for organizations.” She explains that the contractual Save-A-Tape application form allowing the collection of tapes is clear in stating that “individuals are not permitted to collect tapes from customers in our stores.” When the policy enforcement was initiated earlier this year, the stores were given 30 days in which to “gently” remove solicitors. Sam is not, she said, the only person affected. There have also been instances of clashes between competing charitable organizations and, in fact, some had installed collection boxes in stores. These have been removed.
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Sam Rogozinsky, 83, stands on his usual spot at the Dominion store at Bathurst and Sheppard callecting receipts for charity. Sam used to collect them inside the store until he was kicked out a few months ago by a new store manager. Photo Norm Gordner |
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