It was just March 8 that the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh was giving about 1,000 of its members a taste of Cuba during its annual “Big Night” benefit.
March 8 might as well be 100 years ago, as less than a week after that large gathering, on March 14, both JCC facilities in the Squirrel Hill and South Hills were forced to close and suspend in-person activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We began developing right around the time Big Night was happening what we called a ‘phased approach [to closing],’” said Brian Schreiber, the JCC’s president and CEO. “… We sort of built phases one-four and phase five was a total shutdown. In 24 hours on March 13, we went from phase one to phase five.”
A little over three months later on June 15, the JCC was able to enact phase one of its reopening plan, which involved the socially distanced resumption of fitness activities at its two main locations. Earlier Thursday, its indoor swimming pools were reopened for lap swim only with one person per lane and timed registration for use. And on Monday, most of its slate of summer day camps — which includes J&R Day Camp in Monroeville — will begin their seasons as scheduled, albeit with a few modifications for the campers’ health and safety.
Of course, there’s one important JCC-run program that will not be returning this summer: Emma Kaufmann Camp near Morgantown, W.Va., announced on June 2 that it would be forgoing its 2020 summer camp program, leaving the more than 800 campers ages 7-16 and staff who every year expect to spend their summer at Cheat Lake in need of new plans.
“It was the most difficult decision I’ve made in my 15 years of running camps,” said EKC director Aaron Cantor. “It was heartbreaking and difficult to not only tell the campers and staff, but the alumni and supporters of EKC — not to mention my own children — that they wouldn’t be going to camp this summer. It was brutal. But at the same time, we knew it was the right decision.”
It’s not exactly the same as an overnight camp experience, but at least parts of both JCC facilities and its major day camps will be available to both children who need to burn off some energy and parents who could use a break this summer.
There will be plenty to get used to though, similar to the reopening restrictions put in place by YMCA management for its members. For the JCC, those include mandatory temperature checks and health screenings upon entry, masks being required for any member and staff in the building not in the pool or using cardio equipment, and separate entrances at the Squirrel Hill JCC for those interested in fitness or child care.
Amenities such as locker rooms, group fitness classes and open-gym play are not available yet, operating hours have been shortened and there will be no equipment rentals or outside groups/guests allowed during phase one. The JCC will continue offering its virtual exercise classes and providing grab-and-go meals for seniors, according to Mr. Schreiber.
“No matter how good we are virtually, there’s still nothing like human contact,” he said. “We’re doing our best around it, but people want to be with other people. We’re social beings. The more we can do that, the better. But we have to do it safely and responsibly with the right protocols.”
Mr. Schreiber said that the JCC “pressure tested” its new safety protocols with officials from the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative to make sure they were as airtight as possible before implementation. He also said that the JCC waited longer than local guidelines required them to before they reopened “to make sure we built the right kind of processes that we could operate safely for our workforce and the [members] they serve.”
That’s a big deal considering the financial hit the JCC has taken during the pandemic. Mr. Schreiber said that there has been a “significant furlough” of full-time staff, the JCC had to stop paying its 350 part-time employees and the organization expects going forward to be in “a significant degree of debt,” a hole they had just crawled out of in March before the shutdown.
That’s exactly why the JCC took its time creating safety measures that would hopefully ensure they can remain open for the foreseeable future.
“We want to be open and stay open,” said Sherree Hall, the JCC’s senior manager of facilities, security and wellness. “So we’re taking it slow. So far, it’s been extremely positive.”
As for EKC, no amount of social distancing was going to allow its gates to reopen this summer. Mr. Schreiber said that the JCC was waiting to see whether West Virginia’s regulations regarding resident camping would loosen for summer 2020, but by June 2 it was clear that wasn’t going to happen and thus EKC had to close for 2020. Mr. Cantor added that even if they were able to follow West Virginia’s guidelines to the letter, it would have made for a poor camp experience.
“We absolutely would have been able to run a safe camp,” he said. “However, the guidance would’ve made it difficult, maybe impossible to run a program we would’ve been proud of.”
Cheat Lake won’t be completely dead over the next few months at least. Mr. Cantor said that three days after EKC made its summer shutdown official, West Virginia granted them a permit to become a “family retreat” for the summer. For July through early August, families can rent EKC cabins and have a socially distanced vacation. As of Thursday, more than 70% of EKC’s capacity for the summer has been sold and one week already sold out entirely, according to Mr. Cantor.
Still, keeping EKC on ice was a huge disappointment not only for the Western Pennsylvania Jewish community, but also the families of those who made that tough decision. Mr. Schreiber’s son was going to be a first-year EKC counselor and his teenage daughter a camper, while both Ms. Hall’s 14 and 17-year-old children and Mr. Cantor’s nine- and 12-year-olds were also anticipating a summer at EKC.
Mr. Cantor said that he was “overwhelmed with the show of support” from families for closing the camp and said many of them showed their loyalty to EKC by already registering for summer 2021, which he fully expects to go on as normally as possible.
“We have every intention of offering another fantastic summer in summer 2021 as long as it will be safe and healthy to do so,” he said.
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxel222.
First Published: June 18, 2020, 9:24 p.m.
