Nearly fifty years ago, a date at the opera told Leon Zupan everything he needed to know: that the girl on his arm would be part of his life, long after the curtains closed. The two were married shortly after Vonnie (Babiuk) graduated from the University of Alberta, where both she and Leon received their post-secondary degrees. Having first met in the university choir, their shared love of music would act as the underlying score throughout their courtship, their marriage, and what would become a life filled with art and philanthropic endeavours.
For Leon, the seeds of giving were planted early when, as a child, he watched his mother make pies—50 of them at a time—to sell at the Catholic Women’s League fundraising events. Later, at Enbridge, when he witnessed the president of the company volunteering his time to paint a school, he realized that helping a cause doesn’t always have to be about money. “You can do a little, or you can do a lot,” he offers. “It’s easy to find excuses to not make the time, but you do have the time, and you get so much back in the way of rewards. I thought if [the president] could make the time, so could I.”
The foundation for Vonnie’s philanthropic efforts began to build early in her teaching career when she recognized how much children benefited from having music incorporated into their lives. Volunteering with causes that supported children with Tourette syndrome enabled her to then help other students and teachers dealing with learning and behavioural challenges.
In 1989, the Edmonton Community Fund received a $15 million donation from three families. Since then, that seed money has enabled the ECF to provide over $438.5 million in funding to various charities and students. This example of a gift that keeps on giving inspired the Zupans to set up their own foundation. “You can structure your donations [as] such, so that over time you’ve created a fund that will continue to give back to the areas that you feel most passionate about,” Leon explains. The arms of philanthropy extend far beyond its immediate reach. Helping to pay for music lessons could change the life of a child now, or it could positively impact a community a century later.
Over the years, the Zupans have learned to appreciate each other’s strengths. Vonnie says that while Leon is more about the logistics, it’s empathy that spurs her to action and guides her to causes—specifically those like the Edmonton Public Library and the United Way that offer reading and learning opportunities to young children.
The Zupans’ endowment fund will be their charitable legacy, but the intangible outcome is just as meaningful. “I want our children to see what we do as an example,” Vonnie says. “I want them to understand the importance of helping other people.”
While any discipline of the arts can move us, thrill us, or calm us, art is more than what hangs on a wall or is performed on a stage. “Art is vital to our existence,” Leon says. “The creative side of us is what really makes us who we are. Art is what keeps us human.”
That should be music to anyone’s ears.
