Tag Archives: community

(Published May 24, 2022) Watch Kenneth H. in either his tae kwon do class or swim lessons, and you’ll be impressed by the way he moves his legs. In warm-up stretches, he’s flexible enough to bring his foot higher than his face. Then once he starts kicking with purpose, his movements are graceful yet powerful and his aim is straight …

Summer is fast approaching at the JCC, and that doesn’t just mean the Eskenazi Water Park will be opening soon! For families like the Klenes, it means that CampJCC (the J’s summer day camp for kids in grades K-7) is just around the corner. The Klenes at the JCC The Klene family has trusted CampJCC to entertain their energetic older …

Walk down the JCC’s fitness hallway on a Monday evening or Saturday morning, and you’ll hear music blasting, laughing and cheering, and people generally sounding like they’ve having the time of their lives. That would be the J’s Total Body BoxJump Group Exercise class, led by instructor Tim Bass. Four years ago, Tim suffered a heart attack at 53 years …

(Published Jan 25, 2022) When Andrew Bowman first heard about his grandfather Andrew Jackson Smith’s Civil War heroics, even he didn’t believe it. “My mother’s a good storyteller,” he said, “and we always thought [her tales] were so outlandish. We joked about her being from “Lyin'” County, Kentucky [as opposed to its real name, Lyon County] because her stories were, …

(Published April 26, 2021) To understand just how at home the Erdel kids feel at the J, one only had to watch them as they arrived at the Sablosky Pavilion, the location for the (masked and socially distanced) interview and photo shoot to prep this piece. Audrey (9) and Evan (7) immediately ran over to picnic tables their Summer Care …

(Published March 25, 2021) Growing up in Mexico, Filiberto Cruz Mancera loved sports. Basketball, volleyball, almost anything athletic – except swimming. When Filiberto was about six years old, his younger brother fell into and was swept away in the strong current of a creek where Filiberto, his brother and an older sister were playing. Filiberto and his sister frantically chased …

(Published Dec 28, 2020) George Heslin has enjoyed the J’s facilities recreationally for years — at summer camp as a child and more recently utilizing the gym and the pool as he tried on teaching and culinary careers before realizing they were not what he wanted. But as he embarks upon his journey to becoming a firefighter, the JCC (and …

(Published Aug 11, 2020)

(Published July 29, 2019) Life can change in an instant, and often when you least expect it. The Halston and Jameson families know this firsthand. Thanks to the scholarship program at the J, these two families and others like them are able to hold on to a sense of normalcy as they adjust to their shifting realities.   The Halston …

(Published Apr 17, 2015) April 22 marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement 45 years ago. On this day in 1970, Earth Day organizers capitalized on an emerging consciousness in this country to put environmental concerns front and center. At the JCC, after three very successful previous Earth Day celebrations, almost one year …