By Emily Williams
It’s safe to say that the Levite Jewish Community Center staff has had a rough couple of months, but a Staff Appreciation Day held March 6 showed that it’s easy to lift spirits with a little bit of love and support.
On Feb. 27, the Levite Jewish Community Center and the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School followed protocol for the third bomb threat of the year.
The LJCC facility received similar threats on Jan. 18 and Feb. 20. The threats against Jewish institutions have been chronicled by national news outlets as the LJCC joins more than 50 centers across the country that have received bomb threats this year.
Though the air at the facility seems thick with stress, the surrounding community has banded together to provide support.
“The staff are the ones that are having to handle all of this,” LJCC board President Allison Weil said.
Weil has seen firsthand the outpouring of support to organize an appreciation day for the LJCC staff using items donated by the community to create gift baskets and provide stress-relieving activities.
“This is the happiest thing I’ve done in a long time,” Weil said.
With the relaxing sounds of classical music played by soloists in the lobby, Monika Singletary, director of membership, outreach, retention and engagement for the LJCC, said Monday marked one of the most positive and uplifting days she has experienced in a while.
“I’ve got a massage at 2:30 p.m., I pet some dogs, I had cookie cake, I had coffee cake,” Singletary said. “This is just such a special and unique experience. It’s nice to be encouraged and to break away for a few minutes – and for such a great reason.”
The LJCC community itself is one of diversity; one of its purposes is to act as a bridge between the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Even so, Weil said that the majority of donations and supportive responses are from individuals who probably have never stepped foot in the building.
“These are those people who saw what was happening and said, ‘I’m outraged. What can I do to help?’” she said.
During a board conference call last week, Weil and her fellow board members buckled down to find ways to lend their support to the LJCC com- munity.
“We found out that there is a National Staff Appreciation Day,” Weil said. “I didn’t even know that it was a holiday. So, we thought maybe we could help with some sort of stress relief.”
As fate would have it, the staff appreciation day was set for March 3. The board decided to recognize the holiday March 6.
Weil began organizing the event by sending out an email.
“I just wrote a couple of paragraphs about what we were planning to do and why,” she said.
Having sent it to a few handfuls of contacts, none of whom were affiliated with the LJCC, she was floored by the response. Within a few days, Weil’s email had garnered more than 50 responses.
When she shared her results with the LJCC’s executive director Betzy Lynch, Weil said Lynch broke down in tears.
SCHOOL RESPONSE
When Weil shared her email responses with N.E. Miles, she received a similar reaction.
“Our primary goal is always our students’ well-being and safety,” said Head of School Debra Abolfia.
Though N.E. Miles and the LJCC are two separate operations, they share a space on the map as well as facilities. The N.E. Miles preschool is located in the community center, giving its staff easy access to the staff appreciation festivities.
“I am so very proud to say that when our school community was faced with these latest threats, we were prepared, followed protocol and acted professionally with love and care,” Abolfia said.
During each of the evacuations, the students and faculty worked very much together, taking care of each other. Older students helped the younger students, keeping them distracted with songs and games and even offering their jackets to some of the colder kids.
“Our upper school students even completed morning prayers that had just begun before evacu- ation, when they arrived at their ‘safe place,’” Abolfia said.
Much like the outpouring that the LJCC has experienced, N.E. Miles has met with more support than opposition.
“Our parents have been nothing but supportive and confident in our ability to handle these situations and there has been an outpouring of support from the larger Birmingham community,” Abolfia said.
“We continue every day to work towards our mission of educating our students with both Jewish and American values.”
VALUE IN COMMUNITY
Throughout last week and over the weekend, Weil turned her home into a storage facility and gift basket-making operation. Donations rolled in her door from community members and local merchants and were used in the gift baskets presented to staff.
In addition, local businesses and organizations provided stress-relieving activities, including massages, facials and interactions with Hand in Paw’s therapy dogs.
“I’ve worked here for five years and this has been one of the best days we’ve had,” said marketing associate Stephanie Salvago.
Salvago added that it is always the staff’s job to make sure every member who walks in the door feels “the love” of the LJCC community, which has been a constant through this rough patch, so the show of support from Birmingham was appreciated.
When she heard about the staff appreciation day and that many of the contributors were not LJCC members, Salvago said she burst into tears.
“We don’t continue to do this because we have to, we do it because we love it here,” Salvago said. “All of this today lets us know that people in the community, they see it.”
Hand in Paw volunteer Catherine Gregory remembers her days as a member of the LJCC and said she was “blown away” by the threats the staff has had to face. She said she was happy to have an opportunity to bring her therapy dog to the center and help the staff feel supported by the community.
“The kindness has been so overwhelming. … It’s amazing to see just how much people want to help and to see the entire community stand with the JCC,” Weil said.
