• Home
  • About
    • About
    • Policies
  • Submissions
    • Op-eds
    • News / Announcements
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

eJewish Philanthropy

Your Jewish Philanthropy Resource

  • News Bits
  • Jewish Education
  • Readers Forum
  • Research
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / The Blog / An Open Letter to the Teachers and Staff of The Richard S. Adler Early Childhood Center (ECLC) at The Roth Family JCC

An Open Letter to the Teachers and Staff of The Richard S. Adler Early Childhood Center (ECLC) at The Roth Family JCC

April 3, 2020 By eJP

Dear Teachers and Staff of the ECLC…

For those who don’t know me, my name is Jeff Greenwald. I am the Vice President of the Roth Family JCC Board, a parent of a 4 year old in Room 3 (and 2 other boys that have since graduated), and the husband of one of your co-workers (my beautiful Michelle). I was with my 9-year-old today and he said to me that “he will never forget his 3rd grade year.” When I asked him why, he said it was because the “Rona” as he calls it has “made it different than any other year so far.” I sat for a bit and thought about that. I didn’t want to tell him he was right but how could I not. He will remember this pandemic and how changed so much for the rest of his life. I remember my grandfather telling me that he could never forget when he learned that WW2 was over. My father told me how he can still, to this day, remember exactly what he was doing when he heard President Kennedy was shot. I can remember so vividly where and what I was doing on September 11th, 2001 when the towers fell. They are all moments, good or bad, that have defined generations. So I told him he was right. He would remember this forever. More importantly, however, he needs to also remember to be grateful. He should remember something every day to be grateful for during this crisis. That is what he should also remember. The fact that we are blessed with a wonderful home to be quarantined in together, as a family. That he can spend time outside in the sunshine. That he has food in the fridge and internet so he can Facetime his friends. He then added several others to the list and I truly think he understood.

So I wanted to take a moment to tell you something that I am thankful for. All of you. It was not an easy decision to close the JCC. In fact, for those in charge it might have been one of the harder decisions they have had to make. But what happened after that announcement was truly amazing. Despite the circumstances, emails and texts began to go out. The focus was not yourselves. The focus was our children. The focus was on how you could continue to make this a better situation for them. Facetime and Zoom meetings were set up. More and more content has gone up on the YouTube site. My Micah was so excited to show his teacher his new bed on Facetime and she was just as happy to see it. Pictures continued to be sent and notes of encouragement or simply just “checking in” have been arriving daily. To say that the JCC is a community center is really not the truth. The JCC is a family. The JCC is a home. And it is all because of you. Your dedication and love for our children sometimes goes unmentioned. I can assure you that has not been the case lately. I think I speak for all of the parents in saying Thank You. Thank you for being so selfless in uncertain times and making sure that our littles ones are OK.

The JCC will open back up soon. The lobby will be filled again. People will be back in the gym and ordering coffee from Dick & Dottie’s Place. The children will be wandering down the hallways to their classrooms dragging nap mats and lunchboxes. This is but a brief pause in that for now. But what is not paused is your love and care for our children and I personally cannot think anything to be more grateful for.

Please stay safe, be well, and know that you continue to make our lives a little better every day.

With warmest regards,

Jeff Greenwald

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: The Blog Tagged With: COVID 19 and the Jewish community, early childhood ed

Click here to Email This Post Email This Post to friends or colleagues!

Primary Sidebar

Join The Conversation

What's the best way to follow important issues affecting the Jewish philanthropic world? Our Daily Update keeps you on top of the latest news, trends and opinions shaping the landscape, providing an invaluable source for inspiration and learning.
Sign Up Now
For Email Marketing you can trust.

Continue The Conversation

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Recent Comments

  • Bruce Powell on An Invitation To Transparency: Reflections on an Open Salary Spreadsheet
  • Sara Rigler on Announcement: Catherine Reed named CEO of American Friends of Magen David Adom
  • Donna Burkat on The Blessings in 2020’s Losses
  • swindmueller on Where Do We Go From Here?
    Reflections On 2021
    A Jewish Response to These Uncertain Times
  • Alan Henkin on Where Do We Go From Here?
    Reflections On 2021
    A Jewish Response to These Uncertain Times

Most Read Recent Posts

  • What Title for Henrietta Szold?
  • Jewish Agency Accuses Evangelical Contractors of “Numerous Violations” but Denies They Evangelized New Immigrants
  • An Invitation To Transparency: Reflections on an Open Salary Spreadsheet
  • Why One Zoom Class Has Generated a Following
  • The Blessings in 2020’s Losses

Categories

The Way Back Machine

Footer

What We Do

eJewish Philanthropy highlights news, resources and thought pieces on issues facing our Jewish philanthropic world in order to create dialogue and advance the conversation. Learn more.

Top 40 Philanthropy Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2020

Copyright © 2021 · eJewish Philanthropy · All Rights Reserved