As published in Building Together, Fall 2008
PJC Capital Campaign Sails Toward $7 Million Mark
Larry Rocamora, PJC Co-Chair
The Durham-Chapel Hill area has a vibrant Jewish community with five congregations, two Hillels and a thriving Jewish day school. What we lack is a place for collaboration among these organizations; a place that is welcoming to the many unaffiliated individuals and families who struggle to establish an ongoing connection to the Jewish community.
We are overdue to have a Jewish communal center that matches our community’s energy, growth, and national reputation. We have the opportunity to create such a center — right here, right now.
Strong and vibrant Jewish communities serve an essential role everywhere, but most especially in the South, where we cannot take our culture or identity for granted. People who relocate here from large cities quickly learn – and tell us all the time – that they have to actively seek the Jewish life and amenities that were so available and convenient where they used to live.
The Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish community is growing rapidly. Every week brings another influx of seniors and young families, all asking the same question: “Where is the JCC?” For now, we can point to the place where it will be and say, “We’re on our way, but we’re not there yet.” We need your help to complete this dream.
Our building will be beautiful, but its best features will be what happens on our grounds and under our roof. Special outreach programs, many of which are being initiated even before the facility is built, will help us broaden our programming and serve the community in unique ways. Samples of outreach initiative include:
• Youth and senior activity centers
• Partnerships with the Maureen Joy Charter School, BounceBack Kids and Big Brothers/Big Sisters, which will provide services to many children throughout the community
• Social and recreational activities for community members with special needs and their families. Our special needs initiative promises to fill a large gap that many families have struggled to address on their own.
• A Holocaust Resource Center, the Center for Interfaith Dialogue and the Israel Center.
All of these programs will establish our new Jewish Center as “the place” to build our Jewish identity, broaden our circle of connection and live the values of our tradition.
Many hardworking community members have shared their skills and time to create building plans, write policies and procedures, develop a business plan, run a capital campaign, keep the community informed, research programming options, and work with advisors from national JCC agencies. Our capital campaign is well over halfway toward its $10 million goal. We have pledges from 350 donors and anticipate pledges from over 1,000 individuals and families by the end of the campaign. We’re working hard to raise the money we need now to build and keeping our eye on the future by putting 15% of every pledge into an endowment for long-term maintenance and upkeep of the facility.
We’re almost there. We can make all this happen – if we ALL make this happen.
The need for this remarkable new Center is unquestionable. The demand is evident. The time is now. You can be one of the visionaries who help build this exciting new home for all of us. Please let us meet with you and show you how.
For more information about how you can help build the new Jewish Center, contact Bryna Rapp at bryna@jewishpartnership.org .
As published in Building Together, Fall 2008
