As I reflect on the past week, I am brought back to the word together over and over again.
At our Squirrel Hill and South Hills early childhood centers, our school families gathered for the first kehillah (sacred community) events of the year. There was something special about watching the parents from each classroom come together in one place as they sought deeper connection and meaning through a shared experience curated by our fantastic educators. It was a simple but powerful reminder of what can happen when we intentionally create opportunities for relationships to be built.
At our Annual Meeting, we saw another version of that. We came together to celebrate where the JCC has been, reflect on where we are going, and consider what is possible when our members, staff, volunteers, donors and partners each bring something to the table. The JCC’s accomplishments are never the result of one person or one department. They happen because people across our organization and community work together.
I saw that same spirit in a different way through Sharon Feinman’s participation in the Pennsylvania Association of Senior Centers conference. Sharon, our Division Director of AgeWell, presented “Demystifying Grant Writing: From Opportunity to Award,” sharing the knowledge and experience we have developed at the JCC with senior center professionals from across the Commonwealth.
But perhaps just as important as the presentation were the connections Sharon built there with leaders from the Pennsylvania Department of Aging who are interested in visiting the JCC to learn more about our Memory Cafés and other AgeWell programs. What we are doing here can inform the work happening elsewhere, just as we have much to learn from others. Together, we can make the work stronger.
And then, at a Café Momentum Community Champions event, I heard Executive Director Cheyanne Tyler describe the organization’s work to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. I was struck by the scale of the challenge and by the recognition that addressing something so complex requires people and organizations to work together. No single institution can solve a challenge like that alone.
Four very different experiences. One common thread. Together.
It is easy to think about the JCC as a collection of programs, departments, buildings, and services. But the more time I spend here, the more convinced I am that our greatest asset is what happens when all of those pieces, and all of the people behind them, come together.
Together is a member showing up for a program, a volunteer giving their time, a donor investing in a possibility, or a partner asking, “What could we do if we did this together?”
As we make our way through the Jewish High Holidays, I am grateful for the many people who make the JCC what it is and for the countless ways we all show up for one another. May we continue to find ways to bring people together, to learn from one another, and to create possibilities that none of us could create alone.
Wishing you and your families a Shabbat shalom. G’mar Chatima Tova.
Jason