With so much heaviness in the news these last few months, it’s particularly inspiring when a beautiful story comes along to lighten the load.
I want to tell you about Jack and Shirley Silver, two special people who have made a heartwarming investment in the Jewish future.
Jack is a “Queens boy” and Shirley is a “Brooklyn girl.” UJA has been in Shirley’s blood since before she was even born; her parents met on the steps of the JCH of Bensonhurst, a UJA partner. And Jack and Shirley, married for 44 years, have been involved with UJA for 43. (We don’t begrudge them their honeymoon year alone!)
Jack and Shirley have always given philanthropically with an eye toward unmet needs. When their son, who has a learning disability, graduated from college, they saw the difficulties he faced without a built-in social and support network. Driven by this experience, they created the path-breaking Jack and Shirley Silver Center for Special Needs at JCC Manhattan, which builds a community where individuals with varying special needs and their families can participate and succeed in innovative social, vocational, recreational, and educational activities.
That alone would be an enormous philanthropic legacy. But the story continues.
This year, Jack and Shirley made a $20 million legacy commitment to support the Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds and first-rate Jewish programming there — the largest legacy gift any donors have made known to us in their lifetime.
Jack and Shirley made their investment with two very specific goals in mind — helping us realize the full potential of these precious campgrounds for many decades to come, and motivating other families to similarly invest in the Jewish future.
The renovation of Henry Kaufmann is one of three major signature initiatives UJA has launched around our centennial year. We chose to include a focus on Jewish day camps, recognizing that, for many kids, day camp represents a critical gateway to Jewish life.
We’re extremely fortunate that back in the 1950s, Federation leaders had the foresight to purchase a total of 505 acres on Long Island, Staten Island, and in Rockland County. Since then, hundreds of thousands of children — including many from low-income families, as well as children with special needs and serious illnesses — have played sports on fields so different from anything in the city. They’ve taken their first lap across the pool. And they’ve learned Shabbat songs with new friends.
Today, with day camps run by 15 JCCs and YM-YWHAs in the greater New York area and the Sunrise Association (which provides free camp for children with cancer and their siblings), our campgrounds represent the largest Jewish day camp system in North America. Every summer, more than 6,800 children and 1,400 counselors spend their days on these grounds.
Beyond our significant capital expenditure to transform the physical infrastructure of the campgrounds, we’re simultaneously investing millions of dollars incubating new Jewish day camp programs, nurturing camp professionals, and building organizational capacity for Jewish camping. And we’re proud to be carrying out much of this work in collaboration with the Foundation for Jewish Camp.
Visionary leaders dreamed big when they invested in our campgrounds all those years ago. Jack and Shirley are following this example, investing in our shared future. Thanks to them, for generations to come, young girls and boys will play and learn on these campgrounds, discovering the beauty of Jewish life — and some, we hope, will take their first steps on the road to becoming tomorrow’s visionary Jewish leaders.
Shabbat shalom