Suggested Donation Amount

$5 - $18 - $36 - $54 

Shalom Chaverim (Hello Friends)! My name is Drew Katz, Director of Youth Services for the Albany JCC. I have been working in this position since March 2006. My days at the JCC began with my family's involvement with the JCC. My grandparents, great aunts, great uncles, father, and his siblings were all active members of the JCC when the building was located on Washington Avenue in Albany and then on Whitehall Road. My grandfather served as JWV Post Commander here at the JCC in the late 1980's. My grandmother worked in the JCC Business Office for many years at the Whitehall Road location. The JCC Lenore Bellin Memorial Award, for 12th grade Jewish females, honors my grandmother’s youngest sister who passed away at the age of 19. I started here with the onsite K-6th grade afterschool program and with the summer camps from age 5 to 15 years old. I also did three summers as a Teen Camp counselor in the mid 1990's. All of my 3 brothers went to the JCC camps and youth programs. Over the years I formed many life long friends through the JCC that I am still friends with today. My two kids are and have gone through the Early Childhood program. I learned how to swim in the pool here and now my children are learning how to swim here as well. For me, the greatness of this place or "home away from home" is the people and the memories this place has instilled on me over the years. My goal year to year for the youth that I oversee in the camps, Maccabi Games, enrichments, special events, and afterschool programs is to form those lifelong friendships. The JCC is the place that fosters these relationships. Please support our JCC with your charitable tax deductible donation. My goal is to raise $613 for the 613 commandments. Thank you!

The Albany JCC, founded in 1921, offers programs for individuals from two months to those over 100 years old. Driven by core values rooted in Jewish principles of communal responsibility, justice and respect, we strive to provide a nurturing environment where all can grow in mind, body and spirit. Open to all, we are a diverse, neighborhood community center with over 5,000 members, with a wide range of facilities including indoor and outdoor pools, fitness center, aerobics and spinning studios, large gymnasium, auditorium, sports fields, early childcare center and senior center.  We employ 250, have the largest preschool in the Capital District, over 400 kids in camp, and serve 3,000 meals to 200 seniors yearly.  We also offer farmers markets, networking opportunities, facility rentals, blood drives, and generous scholarships to those in need.  To learn more about the Albany JCC, please visit: www.saajcc.org.