Board assists MJCC revitilization

By Jenn Director Knudsen

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Some believe 13 an unlucky number. Clearly, this is not the case for the 13-member Mittleman Jewish Community Center board of directors.
Members say the MJCC not only has been saved from financial ruin, but is on course to thrive as it did in its heyday thanks to this intrepid, extremely hard working group ? along with very generous donations from, among others, the Schnitzer, Zidell and Stern families and support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.
Center membership had crept back to 355 members before the Oct. 22 athletic open house; it once had more than 1,500 family members, so there is room for substantial growth.
In June 2004, "We found ourselves in a pretty deep hole," Board President Jordan Schnitzer said of the MJCC's nearly $3 million debt and $900,000 operating deficit.
Schnitzer helped assemble the board responsible for turning around the center, and the group is still together. Members are looking to transition in a new board in 2007.

These "intense, serious" people, as member Priscilla Kostiner characterizes them are, in alphabetical order: Milt Carl, Kostiner, Jim Meyer, Jeffrey Nudelman, Gayle Romain, Steve Rosenberg, Kyle Rotenberg, Jerry Sadis, Schnitzer, Rob Shlachter, Tom Stern, Jim Winkler and Jay Zidell.
Kostiner, who chairs the task force on programming and works closely with Meyer and Zidell, said the board met once a week for nearly a year. Task forces met even more frequently, and everyone had to make very tough decisions.
For example, the board had to find an alternate venue for seniors who expected a hot, kosher meal a couple times a week, while keeping the Center's summer day- and overnight camps running.
"It was a slash-and-burn process," Kostiner said.
Schnitzer said he's served on 25 boards, eight of them Jewish.
"This is the hardest working Jewish board I've ever been on," he said. "I mean, they've worked their tuchases off."
Kostiner and Sadis agree.
"Jordan's observation about the MJCC Board being the hardest working ?would be echoed by all the other 12 members," said Sadis, chair of the board's finance task force.
The board still hopes to raise $4 million needed to complete all the Center's nearly $13 million in renovations. A Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening is scheduled for Jan. 7, 2007.
The hope then, of course, is to welcome even more returning and new members.
Said Schnitzer: "I think for many people it will be like coming home after a vacation, during which your home had been all spiffed up."