The Charlotte
JEWISH
Vol. 34, No. 7
Av-Elul 5772
August 2012
An Affiliate of the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte
The Leon Levine Foundation Awards a Challenge Grant to Charlotte
Jewish Preschool
By Elka Bernstein
We are building something spe-
eial at Charlotte Jewish Presehool
this summer. It is something
whieh truly embodies our eommu-
nity spirit and our love for what
matters most - our ehildren. It is
an exeiting new park featuring a
brand new, state of the art play
ground. As I wateh the bulldozers
and eonstruetion erews at work
eaeh day and see the plans for this
eustom designed playground take
shape, I am in awe of the effort it
took to get to this point and how
all of us at Shalom Park are work
ing together to finish this job.
At Charlotte Jewish Presehool,
we know the importanee of ehil
dren having dedieated time out
side eaeh day. Our new outdoor
reereation area, eurrently named
Katan Olam Park, is expertly
designed to exereise our ehildren’s
gross motor skills on every level.
There will be more room to do just
that beeause instead of the eurrent
10,000 square feet, our new play
ground will eneompass 18,000
square feet. What this expansion
does is allow our youngest
presehoolers aged one and two, to
play adjaeent to the spaee as our
older kids do. The area whieh was
previously home to our play
ground for the threes, fours, and
five will be reinvented. Children
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will delight in several
new sensory stations,
elimbing struetures,
slides, turf mounds, and
even a rubberized traek
area. The park will also
be home to beautiful nat
ural areas as well as a
dedieated teaeher’s gar
den. New overhead
shade struetures will be
in plaee to shield kids,
parents, and teaehers
during the hottest days
of the year. Construetion
erews will also be able to
repurpose the existing play equip
ment and other existing struetures
as we bring in the new additions
for the playground.
We, at Charlotte Jewish
Presehool, have been dreaming of
this new playground for years.
However, we are fortunate to have
reeeived several generous dona
tions to make this dream a reality.
In June, The Leon Levine
Foundation awarded our sehool a
$50,000 ehallenge grant whieh
has enabled eonstruetion to get
rolling this summer. In addition to
The Leon Levine Foundation
grant, there are other visionaries
whose generosity also made this
projeet possible. They inelude the
Levine Jewish Community
Center, The Goreliek Family, Amy
The designer s rendering of the future Katan Olam Park.
and Mark Vitner, Larry Sehwartz,
and the CJP Parent Teaeher
Assoeiation. Now, we are working
diligently to do our part of the bar
gain whieh is to raise an addition
al $33,000 to eomplete the play
ground. To that end, we are work
ing with our parents and our
Shalom Park eommunity to raise
the neeessary funds. For more
than 20 years now, Charlotte
Jewish Presehool has provided a
home for young families looking
for quality eare and edueation for
their ehildren. This new park will
allow help us eontinue our mis
sion to provide the best in pre
sehool edueation but we need
everyone’s help to get this projeet
to the finish line. We appreeiate
the donations we have reeeived
and high hopes of reeeiving more
in the weeks and months to eome.
Onee eompleted, Katan Olam
Park will benefit more than just
the ehildren of the Charlotte
Jewish Presehool. The park will
also serve Shalom Park ageneies
as well as the visitors to Shalom
Park. All ageneies, along with
their eonstituents, will also be able
to enjoy and use the new
playground on weekends and
during non-presehool hours.
Presehoolers who attend syn
agogue will be able to use
this spaee to explore as their
parents worship.
“Katan Olam” is Hebrew
for “small world.” We hope
our ereation of this “small
world” behind the Charlotte
Jewish Presehool will be a
speeial and safe plaee for our
kids to play and diseover
with friends as they visit
Shalom Park and attend pre
sehool. Our new playground is
symbolie of our eommitment to
the eommunity as a whole and the
ehildren we serve eaeh day. It will
offer a valuable spaee for our kids
to Grow, Conneet, and Learn. As
you ean see, it is that ideal that is
woven into every aspeet of this
projeet. We at Charlotte Jewish
Presehool eannot wait for the
playground’s eompletion and to
introduee all of its features to our
new and returning young students.
If you would like more informa
tion on how to help with our
playground effort or on enrolling
your ehild in Charlotte Jewish
Presehool, please eontaet me at
EBernstein@shalomeharlotte.org
or 704-944-6777. «
Operation Pillowcase
WWW.flagsacrossthenation.org
During Camp SOAR this
summer this summer,
campers made pillowcases
to be sent overseas to the
troops in action.
For more information on
Operation Pillowcase,
contact Eileen Schwartz at
eschwartz@
flagsacrossthenation.org.
Dee Griffin, a eamper and a volunteer,
shows off the pillowease she ereated for
the troops. Camp SOAR eovered the eost
of materials and shipping.
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