The lobby of the Staenberg-Loup Jewish Community Center was filled with the singing of dozens of preschoolers Friday morning. Accompanied on guitar by teacher Liat Arochas, the pint-sized ensemble sang to ring in Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest observed on Saturdays.
The weekly Shabbat sing, open to members of the public regardless of their faith, is a tradition in the building at 350 S. Dahlia St. After years of financial mismanagement caused the center to rack up $14.3 million in debt and a pile of deferred maintenance needs, that tradition and the Denver JCC’s future at its longtime home in the Washington Virginia Vale neighborhood was uncertain.
That is, until local charities and a collection of private donors stepped in earlier this year to raise $16 million to right the ship. Now, with a new land ownership arrangement and new board of directors, leaders with the community institution — known by those who work there as “the J” — are looking forward to enjoying Shabbat songs in that lobby for many years.
“First a foremost, we have financial stability, which is an unbelievably important thing for the J,” Lara Knuettel, the center’s CEO, said last week. “We want to do right by the community and show the community that we are going to be here for generations to come.”
The new board was announced on July 12. That followed a financial reshuffling made possible by multi-million-dollar donations from the Rose Community Foundation, Mizel Family Foundations, the Sturm family and namesake center supporter Michael Staenberg. Many others private donors also contributed, Knuettel said.
The cash infusion wiped out the center debt — $8 million of which came from unfunded improvements to the building — and created a reserve fund for deferred maintenance. In return, the JCC sold its 9-acre property to a new Rose Foundation subsidiary, Rose-JCC Holdings LLC. That nonprofit signed a deal to lease the property back to the center for $1 per-year for the next century.
“It is because of the JCC’s unique nature as a critical Jewish community asset that the foundation is playing a role unlike any we have taken on before or will take on again,” Rose Community Foundation president and CEO Lindy Eichenbaum Lent said in a news release.
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The Denver JCC was founded in 1922. On the city’s west side back then, its purpose was to welcome Jewish families immigrating to the U.S., Knuettel said. Its mission and offerings have grown a lot in the decades since.
Aside from its popular preschool, it also has a tennis facility, fitness center with indoor and outdoor pools and a community theater. Through partner nonprofit, the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, it offers youth arts programs and camps. A group of teens taking part in its Wolf Theatre Academy practiced their lines for Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” at the center Friday. About 6,000 people walk through the center’s doors on average each week.
Its roots are in Judaism and the Jewish values of community, well being and connection, but Knuettel said the center is open to people of all faiths and backgrounds. She estimated half of the families who bring their children to preschool are not Jewish. The same is true of the staff.
“No matter how you relate to the Jewish religion, you are welcome in this building,” she said. “We want anyone and everyone to come and use the facilities here.”
Growing up in the nearby Hilltop neighborhood, Sam Rubinson said he started sneaking into the J to play basketball when he was 9. Now 64, he still visits four or five times a week to do cardio in the gym. He had children who are members and grandchildren who take swim lessons in the building.
“This place has been an institution for most of my life, and I’d like to see it continue,” he said.
Its money woes put to bed, the J can plan for the future. New board chair Don Kortz has his sights set on growth. He wants to expand the preschool and upgrade the class offerings in the fitness center. Donors are ready to support those efforts, he said.
“We had a big bang when we paid off the debt,” he said. “Everyone is excited and we’re going to take advantage of that and keep people excited.”
