YJCC of Washington Township to close immediately

The YJCC in Washington Township has stopped all its programs and activities, although the building will remain in use for back-office operations.

“The aging facility, combined with a reduction in membership and program enrollment, has left the YJCC facing a projected operating loss of more than $1 million dollars over the next year,” according to the organization’s press release; the closure is “in order to chart a more advantageous course for the greater community.

“During the last several months, the board of directors made many attempts to raise the funds, in excess of $15 million, necessary to renew the facility and upgrade programs,” the release continued.

“Ideally, we would have been able to raise the capital and renew our YJCC,” the release quoted the YJCC board chair, Jeffrey Tucker, as saying. “However, it recently became clear that these funds were not available to our community center. As a result, the magnitude of the potential operating loss would have begun depleting our remaining assets, which the board felt would have been fiscally and communally irresponsible.”

“Closing the center now will allow the board to continue to fund long-term services for the most vulnerable, well into the foreseeable future,” the board’s vice chair, Tara Merson, said, according to the release.

According to the release, “arrangements are being made to assure the seamless transition of vital services, such as senior meals, the early childhood center, and the S.A.I.L. program,” in coordination with the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, the Rockland JCC, and Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley.

The press release ended on a hopeful note, again quoting Mr. Tucker. “‘It is our intention to continue onward, once again, providing valuable Jewish programming and services to the Jewish community,’” he said.

“‘The entire board looks forward to redefining how our YJCC serves the Pascack Valley.’”