Archives: Timeline Stories

In his first year as Executive Director, Eric Koehler led an effort to bring JCC Association’s ArtFest to Northern Virginia. The annual event was designed to build connection and peoplehood for Jewish teens with artistic talents. In 2008, ArtsFest was held on the campus of George Mason University and brought teens from around the country and Israel. In addition to the engagement of the teens who came to participate, hundreds of volunteers were recruited to help house participants and serve on committees such as security, food, activities, and more.

In 1985, the Jewish Community Foundation identified the construction of a permanent NVJCC building as a major component of the “Capital Campaign of the 80s.” With the support of the Jewish community in Northern Virginia and the Greater Washington Jewish community, construction began in the spring of 1989 on the Henry S. Reich Building which is still the Center for Jewish life in Northern Virginia today.

In the fall of 1980, the Center’s Board of Directors moved to purchase a temporary building on Little River Turnpike, which became affectionately known as “The White House” to serve as an interim facility until funds could be raised for a permanent structure. For ten years, the building housed the Jewish Social Service Agency, the Jewish Council for the Aging, and Senior Adult Services, and provided a home base for Camp Achva. Gesher Jewish Day School was housed in the JCC from 1993 until 2007, when they built their own campus in Fairfax.

On May 9, 1980, the Northern Virginia Jewish Community Center (NVJCC) officially began operation, receiving a certificate of incorporation from the State Corporation Commission. Following years of dedicated service as an extraordinary lay leader, Adele Greenspon was hired to serve as Northern Virginia Jewish Community Center’s first Executive Director.

In the fall of 1969, and on the heels of the successful first summer of “Camp Achva” day camp (founded by Adele Greenspon, Shirley Waxman, and Judy Frank) fourteen Northern Virginians met to discuss the idea of a Jewish community center in Northern Virginia. Originally served by outreach programs based at the JCC of Greater Washington in Rockville, the growing Jewish population in Northern Virginia needed a home base on the other side of the Potomac. By the late 1970s, Northern Virginia’s Jewish community leaders had reached consensus that the time had come to move forward.