Why is the Jewish community of Greater Hartford so special to you?

This community is so special to us because it is where we met and started a family. Our children have grown up at the Mandell Jewish Community Center’s Beatrice Fox Auerbach Early Childhood Center. We have made friends in this community and look forward to fostering and nurturing these relationships well into the future.

Did you grow up in the area? If you did, what is one of your fondest memories growing up in this Jewish community?

I grew up here (Amanda). My fondest memories of the community are the friends I made at the Mandell JCC and Solomon Schechter — and still have to this day! I can vividly remember all the Mandell JCC classes I took, and still have the pottery to prove it! It is very cool that our daughter takes the same class that I did, and that I can tell my children I walked through the same community building on a day-to-day basis that they do.

You are raising your family here. What values are you aiming to pass on to your children?

We hope to pass onto our children the ability to stand up for what they believe in, be proud Jews and members of the community at large. Greater Hartford is both tight knit and diverse; new and old. We hope that Molly and Nathan can both use the community of old and meld it into whatever they want it to be in the future.

What inspired you to make a legacy commitment to the Mandell JCC and to ensure the future of our Jewish community?

We want the community to be able to use the Mandell JCC – the gym, the ECC, programs, etc. – for years to come. This building and its legacy would not be around if not for those before us who made an investment in the JCC. We want to play a role in making sure our children’s children can get the same satisfaction and joy out of the JCC as all of us have.