A Year of Changes: Facility Improvements Enhance JCC Programming

Eric Lightman Executive Director

This has been a year of change for the JCC. And unlike past changes, this year’s have primarily been upgrades and improvements to our physical facility. As the central address for the Jewish community, we have strived to make our 65-year-old space bright and welcoming and add features that will be useful to our members and community.

If you’ve been to the JCC recently, you likely noticed one change immediately upon entering. We have refreshed the exterior landscaping, removing overgrown hedges and planting new ones. As you enter the lobby, you almost surely noticed the new flooring that was updated for the first time in our building’s history, and immediately makes our space seem more spacious and inviting. Further into our building, we have replaced carpeting in the administrative offices, and all of the 40-year-old blinds on the main floor and upper level facing the 22nd St. side of the building. What a difference!

You don’t have to walk far to see the next set of upgrades. In the Kline Auditorium, we have upgraded the sound board and speakers (some of the equipment was original to the building!). We also installed stage lights, which had been missing for decades, to illuminate the front portion of the stage. Soon, we will also be replacing the stage curtains. In the kitchen adjacent to the auditorium, we have taken delivery of new refrigerators, warming ovens, and a stove. The Kline Auditorium is ready to host your next event with state-of-the-art equipment!

Upstairs, we installed our new Golf Simulator room, which kept many of our members physically active and social during the winter months, and remains available for use by members on nights and weekends. Down the hall, we have completed our new Trexler Media Center, and we will soon install a Sensory Room thanks to grant funding from LVHN. Behind the building, we have added the Toff Family Pavilion, creating an outdoor classroom space for our young learners. In the basement, we have converted the old Men’s Locker Room, which had been closed for 2020, into our new Family Changing Area. This beautiful space now features five private changing rooms for parents and children, a private family restroom, and three privacy shower stalls.

In the coming months, we will also undertake a new Outdoor Adventure Pavilion for camp funded in part by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s JCamp180 program, a new low ropes course and upgraded archery range supported by grants from the IronPigs Charities, lobby security upgrades made possible by state grant funding, and an LED lighting conversion project for the entire campus to lower our energy consumption. It has been a busy year indeed and our board and staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that our facility still feels as new as it did in 1958 when it opened. And if you haven’t been to the JCC recently, we hope you’ll come by soon for a tour and see the many vibrant spaces and programs that are thriving.