Build The ‘J’ Soiree Ushers In A New Beginning
Durham/Chapel Hill Jewish Community
Builds a Place for Everything and Everyone

With 400 people in attendance, The Partnership for a Jewish Center kicked off its “Build the ‘J’ Soiree” by announcing that 20% of its $10 million fundraising goal has already been secured. The Partnership is a joint venture of the Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Federation and The Lerner Jewish Day School, established to build a new community facility on the property between The Lerner Jewish Day School and Judea Reform Congregation on Cornwallis Road in Durham.

According to Partnership co-chair Larry Rocamora, the June 3rd event attracted 400 people, making it the largest non-religious event ever held in the Durham/Chapel Hill Jewish community. “We were thrilled by the turnout - it signifies broad support for the project,” says Rocamora.
He added, “This facility can transform the Durham and Chapel Hill communities. The building will house a gymnasium, health and fitness club facilities, classrooms, meeting and office space, gathering places, and activity rooms for art, music and games. It will bring people of all ages and all backgrounds together, creating new points of connection and interaction.”

In addition, he said that a successful capital campaign will lead to construction of a regulation swimming pool and cultural arts center with theater, and that the entire facility will be open to the entire population, not just the Jewish community.

Also featured during the evening was a talk by Lenny Krayzelburg, the 4-time Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming whose journey has taken him from Odessa to America to the zenith of the Olympic podium in Sydney. Mr. Krayzelburg moved the crowed with tales of his own experiences at Jewish Community Centers in both the former Soviet Union and United States, and how those experiences helped shape his development as an individual and an Olympic Gold Medal swimmer.

Since the Soiree, the Partnership committees have been hard at work defining the needs and required spaces for the constituent parts of the Federation and the school. Work by planning committees of Jewish Family Services, the Jewish Community Foundation, the Jewish Community Center, the Lerner School, and the Federation itself will result in a comprehensive building plan that will meet the core needs of all the partners.

To get involved in the planning or in the campaign, please call Steve Drysdale at (919) 489-5535.

The Partnership for a Jewish Center was formed after several years of study and planning by the Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Federation, its subsidiary agencies, and the Lerner Jewish Community Day School. Together they have created a vision for a new communal facility on the Cornwallis Road site based on the principles of shared use. The new “J” will house the offices of the community’s primary social service and philanthropic agencies, will provide athletic facilities and additional classrooms for the school and the community at large, and will serve individuals from infants to seniors in recreational, social, and cultural programs.