340 - You Don't Have to Be Jewish to Belong at the JCC - Janel Margaretta

Podcast 340 - You Don't Have to Be Jewish to Belong at the JCC - Janel Margaretta The JCC has been sitting on the land off Tilly Mill since 1961, back when it was farmland and Dunwoody was still decades away from being a city. It's still a huge part of Dunwoody's culture. Sixty thousand people walk through the doors every year now, and nine out of ten of them tell Janel Margaretta they made a friend while they were there. Measuring that is literally her job. She is the Chief Impact Officer, and she raised the money for the biggest renovation that campus has seen since 2000. You see it in small ways. A bus brings kids from school to Club J while a parent gets a workout in. When you show up at the pickleball courts, you always see someone you know. Summer camps are where kids grow up. Janel calls it the third spot, after work and home. All are welcome. You don't have to be Jewish. She said it comes down to kindness and honesty and caring for one another, and that is it. Sixty five years on the same piece of ground, and that is still the whole idea. Camp Barney registration opens September 23. And the Book Festival is back November 1 through 22, one of the largest Jewish book festivals in North America and somehow already in its 35th year, with Harry Connick Jr. on the lineup.