Big plans for tomorrow

SHERMAN CAMPUS PHASE 2 CONSTRUCTION

The time has come to begin the next phase of construction on Sherman Campus.  The footprint includes both new and existing infrastructure to serve the community of midtown Toronto.  The campus, once completed, will be an all-encompassing entity offering health and wellness, Jewish learning, daycare, preschool, Holocaust education, arts and culture, and more for all ages.  The highly anticipated Cynamon/Sokolowski Sports Complex will house the new Goldie Feldman Fitness Centre, a health and fitness facility for the Prosserman JCC  that will consist of the Dave & Bea Silverstein gyms, the Larry & Laurie Wise Indoor Running Track, an indoor aquatics centre with the 25 metre Wendy & Elliott Eisen and Family Pool and a therapeutic teaching pool, as well as the Lillian & Norman Glowinsky Outdoor Aquatic Centre with an outdoor pool and children’s splash pad. It will also include a state-of-the-art circuit training and weight room, spin studio, mind-body studio and several multipurpose fitness/dance studios.  There will be men’s and women’s locker rooms as well as a family change room equipped with a handicap-accessible change facility in support of UJA Federation’s commitment to an inclusive community. Additional multipurpose program rooms will also be built to augment those currently in the Donald Gales Family Pavilion at the Prosserman JCC.

The new building will also be home to the new Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre, home to the Frank & Anita Ekstein Holocaust Resource Collection, the Joseph Gottdenker Family Institute for Civic responsibility, the Sam & Yetta Brown Family Lecture Hall and the Radomski Docent Lounge.
Opening to the new Ellen Prosserman Atrium will be the Leah Posluns Theatre, designed to permit a wide range of communal arts, culture, and social programs with room for up to 400 individuals.

The new building will be connected to the existing Prosserman JCC by a Canadian Jewish Walk of Fame that will include a bridge to the Donald Gales Family Pavilion.
Many new donors have committed to naming the various future facilities that are to be built.

JOSEPH & WOLF LEBOVIC JEWISH COMMUNITY CAMPUS

Officially launched in October 2012, the Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community Campus is now a dynamic centre of Jewish life. A dream just a decade ago, this campus is changing the landscape of York Region - home to one of the world’s fastest growing Jewish communities anywhere outside of Israel.

The community’s response to this campus has been overwhelmingly positive. Whether ushering in a new era of Jewish education at TanenbaumCHAT at the Kimel Family Education Centre, or enriching lives by providing opportunities for and physical activities at the Schwartz/Reisman Centre, there is something for everybody. The campus serves more than 2,500 people daily, and it continues to take care of the needs of this, and future generations.

After years of planning, Bialik Hebrew Day School celebrated the grand opening of its second home with the creation of The Ben and Edith Himel Education Centre on the Lebovic Campus. The new northern branch of this Jewish Toronto institution opened its doors to 64 enthusiastic students in JK, SK, and Grade one.

Looking after the social, educational, vocational, settlement, mental health, home care, safety and emotional needs of the burgeoning community, UJA Federation opened the Miriam & Larry Robbins 1 Open Door, which brings some of UJA Federation’s most vital partner agencies together, under one roof, on Lebovic Campus, including Jewish Immigrant Aid Service Toronto (JIAS), Jewish Vocational Services Toronto (JVS), Circle of Care and Jewish Family & Child (JF&CS).

And, when it comes to helping clients of the Reena Family Residence on the Lebovic Campus, gourmet salad dressing and sauce maven, Renee Unger couldn’t resist lending her name to the Snoezelen, an innovative room for participants in Reena’s adult day program, providing a unique way to help those with developmental disabilities, reminding our community that the spirit of Tikkun Olam extends to every human being and that no one should be left behind.

MILES NADAL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE

This year the Miles Nadal JCC celebrated its 60th anniversary.  When members of the Jewish Community founded this incarnation of the “Y” at the corner of Bloor and Spadina in 1953, who could have predicted the impact it would have over the 6 decades to follow. The Miles Nadal JCC currently serves 7,100 patrons and counting. 
What started as the first effort of the Tomorrow Campaign, originally called the “Dream Downtown Campaign,” it is amazing to see the developments that have occurred over the years. 

This past year alone has brought about many new naming opportunities, and we continue to add new names to the list of supporters of the downtown campus.  In honour of our donors old and new, we hosted an event October 27 to dedicate the new donor wall, where all the donor names - past and present - are proudly displayed for the community to see.

Among those donors are Marlene (Silverstein) Klewans, Hal Silverstein and Randi Silverstein, who, in June, 2013, decided to once again hour the memory of their parents – Dave and Bea Silverstein - by naming the gymnasium at the Miles Nadal JCC. This remarkable display of love and respect for their late parents was a “sequel” of sorts, as in March of 2009, the troika named the double gym at the Prosserman JCC on Sherman Campus at Bathurst and Sheppard.