metro
Grassroots Effort
Supporters seek solutions to keep
Oak Park JCC open and viable.
Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor
0
ne week after two public forums
were held to elicit comments about
the possible closing of the Jimmy
Prentis Morris Jewish Community Center
in Oak Park, close to 100 people gathered
Monday evening for a grassroots effort to
keep their JCC open.
JPM has been running a deficit of nearly
$1 million for several years, and JCC and
Jewish Federation leaders see closing it at the
end of the fiscal year (May 31) as a part of a
solution to the JCC's longtime debt problem.
The JCC also includes the much-larger JCC
in West Bloomfield, which leaders say has an
annual deficit of about $200,000. Both cam-
puses are home to apartment buildings for
seniors run by Jewish Senior Life.
Public forums held by JCC/Federation
lay and professional leaders Jan. 12-13 drew
a total of about 750 people. Leaders then
People broke up into brainstorming groups to come up with suggestions.
said the facility would remain Jewish and
programming would continue, but perhaps
under a different entity than the JCC. At
both sessions, passion for JPM and its need
to serve the Jewish community surrounding
it was keenly evident.
A grassroots group evolved from those
forums with the mission of saving JPM.
Hundreds of supporters already had signed
on to Aaron Tobin's Facebook page (Save
the Oak Park JCC); other names were added
to a clipboard belonging to Ron and Phyllis
Aronson of Huntington Woods, who gath-
ered contact information during the forums.
The result was this meeting at JPM.
"There's a time to kvetch and a time
to work:' Ron Aronson told the group.
"Kvetching was last week We are here to use
the incredible ideas that came up last week.
This is not the kind of thing the JCC and
Federation would do, but that we can do. We
begin the process tonight:'
People had plenty of questions and not
"My father, Louis Berlin, is the third generation
of my family to live in what is now Jewish Senior
Life of Metropolitan Detroit. He is living in the
Meer Apartments and I am grateful for the
wonderful environment provided to my dad."
Joyce Weingarten
so many concrete answers. They were not
deterred, but determined to do what they
could collectively to come up with solutions
to keep JPM operating. Tobin and Aronson
led the meeting, taking comments from the
group and working hard to pinpoint areas
where their suggestions might make a dif-
ference.
Getting a clear financial picture of what it
takes to run JPM emerged as a major con-
cern.
"We can't even proceed because we have
no financial information," said Jack Zwick of
Southfield, a certified public accountant who
also suggested a forensic accounting of the
information once it is obtained. "We have to
look at the [Federation] allocation, at fixed
costs. We don't know this."
John Klein of Oak Park said, "We need
financial snapshots of what is spent and what
is coming in ... We need to know how much
we need to spend to keep JPM going."
Many in the room agreed. JCC board
member Bubba Urdan
said the JCC audit for the
last two years is complete.
Late in 2013, inaccurate
financial reports were
discovered that overstated
JCC revenues and under-
stated liabilities, leading
John Klein
to hiring outside firm,
Financial One Inc., to
examine the JCC's books. At the same time,
turnaround expert Jim Issner was brought in
as interim executive director.
After the meeting, Urdan said he spoke
with Issner, who told him he welcomed
a meeting to discuss the audits with the
group's financial subgroup.
Brainstorming Ideas
Other concerns identified Monday by the
group included membership, fundraising,
marketing, customer service, cost-cutting
Grassroots on page 18
°
ttaatelsOte cce/(10/4 Z/0-1/(
Personal Care Services Available
/00
,;(
AD,
Ask about our MOVE-IN SPECIALS
Complimentary JCC General Membership
a residence of
MEER APARTMENTS1
6760 West Maple Road, West Bloomfield, Michigan 48322
JEWISH SENIOR LIFE
Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus
For information or to schedule a tour call:
Cd&I
16 January 22 • 2015
-
Lay, it/'t%
Marcia Mittelman at 248-661-1836
email: mmittelman@jsImi.org
visit: www.jslmi.org for an application
Voted Best in
Senior Housing
Detroit Jewish News
reot
rkn,
2n1"'