Thank you to everyone who came out last night to our annual meeting! It was great to celebrate all that we have accomplished over the last year and to share out vision for year ahead. Just a reminder that we have lots of ways for you to get involved in your JCC — please let me know if you are interested in getting involved on a committee or helping to plan an event. This is YOUR JCC and having you involved in our success is important to all of us.

As part of my Campus Director report at the annual meeting, I did a “JCC by Numbers” presentation. I thought you would find some of the information interesting. Selected highlights are below:

Schenectady JCC By The Numbers 2022-23

2

Back to back victories for the GREEN team for Maccabiah (Camp Color Games)!

8

Cultural exhibits displayed throughout the year, including two to celebrate Israel’s 75th Anniversary

9

Films presented during the Schenectady Jewish Film Festival; three were shown in-person and offered a dinner option

18

ECE staff members who have worked for the department three years or more

24

New families in ECE

30

Group Exercise classes offered each week

40

New families in after-school programs.

54

Artistic classes offered including Ceramics, Arts, and Crafts.

96

Hours the Sports & Wellness/Aquatics Departments are open each week!

502

Campers participated in Camp Chaverim, Camp Galgalim, and CIT program in 2022! A new record

1,357

Personal Training sessions between January – May 2023

8,191

Check-ins at the Family Pool and Tennis Club in Summer 2022 (31% increase over 2021)

45,061

Check-ins at Sports & Wellness (Fitness & Aquatics) in 2022 (27% increase over 2021)

Here are a few other updates:

•My favorite time of year — summer camp season — starts next week! I started my JCC career as a camp counselor and eventually became summer camp director. To me, this is the best time of year as our building and campus will be teeming with more than 300 children each week and 80 staff members. Camp is a special time of year as our children will be able to enjoy some carefree time, making friends, trying new things and just being kids. We all owe a huge thank you to Rachel Csakany and her team for their hard work to get ready for camp this year so that our kids can have a great experience this summer!

•With camp starting up next week, there will be new traffic patterns and more kids at the JCC during drop-off and pick-up time. Please allow for a little extra time in the mornings and afternoons and – most importantly – please be extra cautious as there will be lots of kids in the building and outside. The busiest pick up time will be from 3:40 p.m. – 4:20 p.m. and you may find that the parking lot is very difficult to navigate at that time. Also, please note that access from Knolls Road is exit only during that time.

•Our deposit bottle and can collection program is still going strong. If you have cans or bottles for recycling, please consider bringing them to the back shed at the JCC and we will use the proceeds to help continue to improve the JCC. We’ve already recycled nearly 30,000 deposit bottles and cans this year!

•Don’t forget to sign up for next Friday night’s community Shabbat dinner here at the JCC. Space is becoming very limited so please RSVP as soon as possible. Check out the flyer below for more information or click here to register.

Finally, the resurfacing and relining of the tennis and pickleball courts is complete! Our tennis courts are now open for use by our Family Pool & Tennis Club members. Next, we are setting up the pickleball nets and we anticipate them opening early next week (weather permitting). Look for more details on this, new pickleball programs in July and much more! We’re really looking forward to a great summer at the JCC!