Fall 2021
PJCC
Supporter Spotlight
A Letter
from the Board Hi!
It’s Lorna Siepser and Phil Strause, sharing exciting news about all that is happening at the PJCC.
It's a new fiscal year at the PJCC. And we are also getting ready to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in all its sweetness, with our family and friends at our remarkable PJCC. Yes! It’s gratifying for all of us to look back over the last year, and marvel at all that we were able to accomplish as a community, despite the challenges brought by the Pandemic. YOU made this possible through your generous support, and together we ensured that our community continued to thrive, serve, and offer a lifeline of classes, courses, and all things “PJCC.” • Our Preschool and Treehouse @ the J safely welcomed our children, providing much-needed support for working families. • Our outdoor fitness has been in continual operation since June 2020. • We provided free rides to essential medical appointments and errands to homebound seniors through Get Up & Go. • Through our virtual platform, PJCC@Home, we celebrated Jewish holidays, hosted game nights and discussion groups, and led online fitness. • We meditated and studied with our beloved Rabbi Lavey. As we welcome more people back to our physical Center and look to the year ahead, we know recovery will not happen overnight. But we do know, through last year’s experience, that your continued generosity will build us back stronger... better... together! We hope you will join us — in person if possible — for the upcoming events highlighted in this exciting issue. We can’t wait to welcome you back! Lorna Siepser, PJCC Board Member; Chair, Development Committee Phil Strause, PJCC Board President P.S. TODAH RABAH (THANK YOU) to everyone who made a gift in June. Thanks to your generosity, we met our fiscal year-end match and received an additional $20,000 from two anonymous supporters! 1
We first heard about the PJCC Preschool from a neighbor, and after hearing about her experience, we scheduled a tour, and the rest is history. In his three years at the PJCC Preschool, we have seen Sage nurtured and cared for by a wonderful group of adults and teachers. This is all we could ever ask for as parents. As two educators ourselves, we were grateful for the trust we felt dropping him off each day.
A Family’s Preschool Journey of Belonging We are not only thankful for how the preschool loved and embraced Sage, but also our family. As two moms, we have always felt supported and valued in this community. That is really meaningful to us — and so wonderful for Sage. It gives us both hope that he will grow up in a more inclusive world than we did. We appreciated seeing how the PJCC’s values, including Hachnasat Or’chim (welcoming all), carried through in his experience. We have many wonderful memories from the past three years — constructing wooden bean bag toss boards for the Purim carnival, gathering with our classroom families for Shabbat dinner, and watching Sage enjoy his homemade Friday challah (and stealing a bite if we could). But the most wonderful gift has probably been the relationships with parents that we still maintain today: regularly gathering with a group of moms from Sage’s 2-year-old class for dinner together. Over the years, we have shared class newsletters with family, including Kelly’s parents, Peggy and Frank. They could tell from the stories and images that their grandson was at a special place and this was a great way for them to stay connected. When we had the opportunity to direct a gift from Peggy and Frank to the PJCC Preschool, we saw it as a way for all of us to say thank you for three magical years. Amrit and Kelly, Preschool parents To learn more and support the PJCC Preschool, visit pjcc.org/preschool
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360 Degrees of Grat Life-Affirming Mission In this crazy world, the PJCC is a place of peace, safety, and community. —Jane Boyarsky Jane and Jeff Boyarsky have very intentionally made the PJCC central in their lives. And they credit the PJCC with much of the abundant good they have experienced. Both Jane and Jeff served on the Board of Directors: Jane during the PJCC’s years in Belmont, and Jeff who just recently finished his term on the Board. Both are devoted fitness members, both agree that raising their children at the JCC was paramount to the children’s social and emotional development, and both are committed to support the PJCC’s mission. Jane and Jeff Boyarsky (far left and far right), spend family time with their daughters Elizabeth and Amy, and their granddaughters (Amy’s children) Carmen and Alba.
Jane and Jeff check all the boxes for JCC engagement. And they wouldn’t have it any other way. “The JCC for us has been a natural extension of our closest group of friends, and our community,” says Jeff. “It provides us contact and experience with our Jewish roots and with diverse cultures; we have the best of all worlds at the PJCC.” Jane and Jeff enrolled their children in the PJCC Preschool back in Belmont, and their engagement and leadership evolved from there. Their daughter Amy was a lifeguard at both the Belmont and Foster City Centers, both daughters attended PJCC day camps, and both went on to Camp Tawonga (one of the crown jewels of Northern California’s Jewish-resident-camp-world). Their older daughter, Elizabeth, ultimately served on the Tawonga counseling staff. Once the PJCC moved to Foster City, both Jane and Jeff became regulars for fitness, spending many — if not most — days working out and benefitting from the JCC’s wellness approach to health.
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titude for the PJCC’s n: Jane and Jeff Boyarsky
Then ten years ago Jeff received a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Shortly thereafter he met PJCC Fitness Director and Master Trainer Vicki McGrath. Jeff and Vicki launched into a partnership with the express intent to keep Jeff as healthy as possible, and to overcome the effects of Parkinson’s based on all the available research on exercise physiology. The partnership has paid off — Jeff has successfully warded off the worst Parkinson’s symptoms and disease progression. “Vicki is my, and many people’s, guiding light,” asserts Jeff. Vicki’s support fills Jeff and Jane with immense gratitude for her knowledge and expertise, loyal dedication, and unflagging positivity. Jeff’s personal physician marvels at his strength and resilience. Vicki is not at all surprised by Jeff. According to her, “he’s a warrior with a tender heart.” Additionally, Jeff and Jane are thankful that they have experienced what it is to be connected to Judaism through the PJCC. They know the joys of raising their children within the loving community of the PJCC. And they enthusiastically depend on fitness at the PJCC to keep them living good lives. According to Jeff, “All of this combined has inspired us to help lead, and to support the PJCC’s mission in any way we can. Because if not us, then who?”
CHAI SOCIETY Chai Society is the PJCC’s leadership giving circle, for those who donate $1,000 or more annually to support our mission-driven programs. Each year, we invite Chai Society supporters to join us for special opportunities and events.
We look forward to welcoming you to Chai Society events — virtual and in person — in the coming months. For more information, please contact Nicola Burt at 650.378.2690 or email development@pjcc.org 4
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שנה טובה Shanah Tovah! Happy New Year
May peace and caring fill our hearts and homes.
Legacy Society Your legacy. Their future. Your gift to the Legacy Society will ensure our Center is there for future generations, with the flexibility to evolve and address needs as they arise. Questions about legacy giving? Please contact the Development Department 650.378.2690 | development@pjcc.org 5
THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP PAYS OFF FOR PJCC Not one but two matching gifts secured – $120,000 thanks to YOU! Todah Rabah (Thank you). Thank you for rising to the challenge and helping us to secure two matching gifts this spring. Whether you made a first gift, a second gift, or raised your gift, it made a difference! We are so grateful to the generous leaders in our community who made these matching gifts possible, and to our entire community for stepping up throughout the pandemic. To our sustaining supporters, annual fund donors, Chai Society leaders, and corporate and foundation partners — all of you, thank you!
Interested in a corporate partnership? Please contact the Development Department 650.378.2690 | development@pjcc.org
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Save the Date
Kristen Strom & Tammy Hall Quintet Saxophonist Kristen Strom and pianist Tammy Hall have a soulful connection. Along with guitarist Scott Sorkin, bassist Ken Okada and drummer Jason Lewis, they will play a program that swings, sizzles and comes from the heart.
October 3 2:00 pm
GENEROUS GRANT TO PROVIDE
INNOVATIVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE DAY CAMPERS
We are kvelling (bursting with pride)! Our supporters at the Harold Grinspoon Foundation/ JCamp180 chose PJCC’s Camp Keff to be among a very special group of day camps selected to receive a matching grant (2:1 match) to support a capital project. PJCC will raise $20,000 to receive the Foundation’s $10,000, for an innovative multi-sensory sound installation — designed by Oakland-based artist tyson ayers — that will be located outdoors adjacent to Shalom Field. We are honored to be selected in this inaugural round and we cannot wait to kick off this exciting community fundraising campaign! Stay tuned...
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Creating Art
Gaga!
CAMP KEFF SUMMER 2021 PHOTO RETROSPECTIVE New Perspectives
Butterflies
In an exciting return to in-person Camp Keff this summer, campers got a true taste of the freedom, laughter, and friendship that makes for marvelous summer memories!
Future Scientist
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Celebrating the Legacy of a Celebrated Career RABBI LAVEY DERBY On May 2, more than 200 friends and family from across our community (and, in fact, from all over the world!) gathered virtually to celebrate Rabbi Lavey Derby, who recently retired from the PJCC after an illustrious decade of insightful and impactful leadership. In true Rabbi Lavey style, he credited all of us for providing him with the inspiration for his PJCC work. It was a powerful evening of story telling, gratitude for wisdom and knowledge, and the assurance that Lavey’s influential legacy will live on at the PJCC. In the spirit of generosity, we are thankful to all who made honorary gifts in gratitude for Rabbi Lavey’s contributions to Jewish Life on the North Peninsula. Together, we raised nearly $80,000, from 158 donors; these contributions were matched by a very generous anonymous donor as part of a $100,000 matching gift challenge. And it still is not too late to join this wonderful circle of givers. If you would like to give a gift in Rabbi Lavey’s honor, please visit pjcc.org/donate and select “Rabbi Lavey’s Retirement” under the drop-down labelled “Please direct my donation to.” We’re so grateful that Rabbi Lavey will remain a part of our PJCC community. Look for his continued leadership for Life: It’s Complicated and Mindfulness Meditation, which began in late August.
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Generous Giving Made In-Person Returns to the PJCC Possible
Throughout the past months, we’ve safely welcomed Center Members back for workouts, and offered youth a place to learn and play at PJCC Preschool, Treehouse @ the J, and Camp KEFF. And now, we’re pleased to bring back even more programs for families and adults! All of this could not have been achieved without the support of all who contributed “sustain and remain” gifts, as well as members and program participants who donated fees back to us. To all of you, we are grateful. Now that the Center is opening even more significantly, we’re overjoyed that some of our Jewish Family programs are coming back to gather safely in person — with masks of course! This summer, Shababa™, our popular program for little ones and their grown-ups, kicked off in Hamlin Garden, with a special time of music, movement, and more led by Jeni Markowitz Clancy. The Garden also hosted our adult community for outdoor arts experiences including a sold-out, free outdoor concert featuring Tom Rigney on Sunday, August 15. What’s more, with an increase in in-person Group Exercise classes, family swim, and open gym, Center Members can experience more of the fun fitness community they love. We're proud of the strictest health and safety measures that have been implemented for the safety of everyone who visits our campus. Whenever you’re ready to participate at the Center—now or in the future—we look forward to seeing you there! And we thank you for your generous support.
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Our Mission The mission of the Peninsula Jewish Community Center is to build a caring and connected community, develop leadership and strengthen Jewish identity and values in a Center with an environment that is welcoming to all people at every stage of life. The PJCC has been serving people of all ages, faiths and backgrounds throughout San Mateo County for more than 70 years. We achieve this vision through our Guiding Principles, the Ikkarim.
IKKARIM
GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF THE PJCC JEWISH LIFE
Chavaya Yehudit
We celebrate the dynamic gifts of Jewish culture, tradition, ethics and community we received from generations before us.
WELCOMING ALL
Hachnasat Orchim
Our house is open wide to all, and we embrace the diversity of culture, opinion, religion and identity.
OUR COMMUNITY OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Kehilla u’Mishpacha
We are a hub for all events and activities that enrich our lives and community.
WHOLENESS OF BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT
Shleimut
We respect and nurture each individual’s journey toward wholeness and see our role as a catalyst.
REPAIRING THE WORLD
Tikkun Olam
Each person makes a difference, and together we are responsible for improving the world through our actions.
The PJCC is proud to be a part of the Koret Initiative on Jewish Peoplehood. We are honored to present this program through the Taube Center for Jewish Peoplehood at the PJCC.
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