Climbing into the Future

Dear FJECC Friends and Families, 

Our beloved climbing structure has come to the end of its lifespan. The main beams and many platforms are rotting and no longer safe. This coming spring, we will construct a wonderful new structure with many of the same character elements: natural materials, multiple levels, opportunities to stretch physical abilities, and spaces to sit and dream. In the meantime, the Rita and Adam J. Weiner and Family Outdoor Classroom will continue to nurture a love of learning and nature with more open space for imaginative games and gross-motor play this coming school year. Our Outdoor Classroom Committee will lead the way in curating activities and materials that support learning and invite children to explore and play.

While we prepare for a beautiful new structure, saying goodbye to our beloved structure is still hard to do. A structure that was built to last 15 years has given us 32 years of joy, challenge, inspiration, comfort, and SO much gross motor development.

I think about all the worlds that have been imagined, all the characters created, and friendships cemented on those big, sturdy beams, and I am filled with both joy and bittersweet appreciation.

On Thursday, August 20, Senior Rabbi Elaine Zecher and Cantor Alicia Stillman lead our community in a blessing to honor our beloved old structure, and helped the children (and grown-ups!) say goodbye to this monumental piece of FJECC history.

On Monday, August 24th, a construction crew arrived in the Temple Israel garden to deconstruct our play structure. It came down faster than it went up. For some, watching the process was fun; for others, hard. For me, it was both. 

Along with this goodbye, there is excitement ahead. We’ll make great use of the newly open space in the garden: more room to build with our beautiful Community Playthings outdoor blocks, outdoor fabric for child-designed play spaces, and an expanded mud kitchen for more sensory play!

I’ve begun meeting with landscape architects to shape our vision – a new structure as dynamic and inviting as the current one, with multiple ways to climb, gentle accessible levels for our youngest toddlers, and challenging, exciting features for the older children.

Thank you, Dear Climber, for so many years of glorious service to the children of FJECC! 
Amy

How can YOU be involved in the next phase of the Outdoor Classroom?

Donate! We’re well on our way to funding the new structure, and will keep fundraising this year to support our vision of the best structure. Donate here and share widely – 32 years of alumni will surely want to support the next generation of climbers. Help us climb into the future!