COMMUNIIT
�
JEWFRO
Our Jewish
Community Center:
Defining Reality
30 will mark 50 years since
Prentis Morris and three
Oct.
Jimmy
boys were driving home
University of Michigan Foot
ball game when they were struck
by a train at an unguarded railroad
crossing. Following that
tragedy, the Morris fam
ily's wish was that the
other
from
a
The
1931 JCC on Wood
less than 20 years old when
the Jewish War Veterans Memorial
Home Association proceeded with
the Dexter Branch (on Davison) in
ward
original
was
1949. In 1958, before it opened as the
main branch of the JCC, the
gym named for their son
at the Oak Park Jewish
Community Center would
"inspire others to
.
with
its
enable
club (at
community:'
combination of compli
cated and complex. The
membership revenue,
carrying costs, debt, deficits, de
preciation, capital improvements,
allocations, restricted gifts, as well as
the monetary, logistical and human
resource implications of dozens of
are compli
community programs
cated. So complicated that Interim
-
were
business, it would be the most
complicated $14 million business
ever seen.
But, as Jim knows, the JCC isn't a
business
-
or a
social service agency
traditional thing
any singular
and therein lies the complexity. It is
a lot of things to a lot of people with
very real value and very real existen
or
or
tial
-
questions.
As far
as what's complicated, I
don't have any light to shed on the
finances other than to say that, as a
recent addition to the JCC
board, I've
the books and the red ink is real.
What's so complex is that the Oak
seen
Park JCC's
longevity could be its un
and could point to its future
doing
viability. This is uncharted territory for
-
Not financial trouble, which has
been part of the JCC for years. Rather,
us.
this is the first JCC we've had that has
lasted
more
than
a
an
visit
redthreadmagazine.com
for details
opening
generation.
iary" to spaces first in Detroit and
then far from the city limits
but
it has lasted decades longer than
any of those facilities. Over those
-
an area
became durable and dynamic.
So what's the best analogy for the
car that may (or may not)
be totaled? Northland Mall? The
chicken (updated facilities) and the
egg (expanded membership)? Cluck
if I know.
The biggest risk I see is less that a
physical facility will
close and
use
o
that could have been
a temporary stop on the northwest
erly Jewish migration to nowhere
years,
$50 Gift Certificate
JCC? A
a
he'd
winner every month!
new
-
-
CEO Jim Issner said if the JCC
A
ceremony boasting the
"world's largest challah,
baked by Zeman's") in
1993. The Oak Park JCC
has never been the main
branch
always "auxil
serve
The prospect the Oak
ParkJCC will close is a
financials
GIVEAWAY
waiting list. The JCC broke
ground in West Bloomfield
Oak Park's building
dates back to 1956. It
gained a pool and health
see
gifts that will
a
in 1973.
the needs ofthe 10Mile
Branch and come forth
the center to better
Meyers and
600-person
Health Club at
Curtis had
magazine
The Courthouse Grille
Plymouth Road
Plymouth MI, 48170
41661
more
community will lose a
unassuming,
accessible and pluralistic. There may
be people who consider the kosher
so
to
that the
"commons" space that is
Dunkin' Donuts on Greenfield more
Jewish than a nearby Reform temple,
and others who think they might get
hit by lightning upon entering one of
the many bustling Orthodox build
Brenda of West Bloomfield
won
People tend to
on
the
JCc.
And
giving that up
agree
would be a blow to Jews of all stripes
who have put down deep roots on
ings along
10 Mile.
$125 Gift Card
to
Bra-vo Intimates
this side of town.
Prizes may vary and prize must be claimed within 30
Jim is fond of the quote, "The first
responsibility of a leader is to define
reality:' He has and I'm
grateful. I'm also confi
as compli
dent that
cated as the past reality
our
giveaways
Are donated
-
is to understand and
as
complex as the present
the
reality may be
future reality has not yet
our
days of winning or they are voided.
giveaway
ow
to
by
local advertisers; to be considered for
page,
please
contact
us
at
(248)
a
spot in
351-5107.
in
Enter to win at:
-
been defined.
�
www.thejewishnews.com/red-thread-give-away/
This contest opens at noon on the first Thursday of the month and
closes at 3 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month. Winners will
be chosen and notified
A
scene
from the 1993
opening
after renovations
at the Oak Park JCC
by
the end of each month. No
purchase is
entry per person per month. Please
will be printed in the following issue of Red
necessary to enter or win. One
note: Winner's
name
Thread.
IU�D rnltLlID I February 201 5
35