JCC stories

Three thousand people come through the doors of the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan every day. Many attend programs with others close in age or with similar interests. Toddlers and parents or caregivers make a beeline for our early-childhood classrooms. Established and aspiring artists head to our creative spaces on L3. Adults seeking to clear their heads through meditation end up in Makom.

Andy Chaleff knows firsthand about feeling uncomfortable in your own body. “For someone with a disability, it’s really hard to have self-esteem,” says Chaleff, who was diagnosed with a learning disability as a child. He came to the JCC in 2010 when he was introduced to The Jack and Shirley Silver Center for Special Needs’ (CSN) Adaptations program through a family acquaintance.

Jose Vargas has been a valued member of the Elite maintenance crew for more than four years. At the JCC, he does everything from setting up rooms for programs to disassembling the sukkah in which you celebrated with friends to making needed repairs on all 14 stories of our building. If you’ve encountered him anywhere in the building, chances are he’s shared a smile or kind word with you.

In Ava McNamee’s Thursday ceramics class on L3, the dozen or so students who gather each week create more than just beautiful works of clay. In the decade and a half since the first members started coming, the students, all in their 70s and above and almost all women, have created a family.

It seems nearly impossible that it’s been only two years since JCC Harlem opened its doors. What’s even harder to believe is how much it has accomplished—and what it has added to the community landscape—in such a short time.

From its earliest days, the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan has been dedicated to innovating in the Jewish space. One way it does this is by presenting rituals and traditions to the community it serves in new and inspiring ways.

Everyone knows people who see the proverbial glass as half-full. But anyone who has ever met Sarah Heller, who has been coming to the JCC since 2010, would undoubtedly agree that her glass is truly “overflowing.”

In an era in which gatherings of families and friends have become potential minefields, community members with divergent political views are choosing to come together specifically to discuss the issues that may divide them—and break down barriers in the process.

Since the Adaptations program at the JCC opened its doors in 2005, more than 600 adults in their 20s and 30s have discovered the community, purpose, and valuable connections that are so important to all of us, but even more so to those who have difficulty finding them. For that, they can thank Shirley and Jack Silver.

Forming community connections may not be the first thing people associate with a funeral home. But at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, the Upper West Side’s only community-owned and– operated Jewish funeral chapel, it’s a priority.