By Kaitlyn Stefanowicz
JCC Marketing Project Coordinator
During our Annual Meeting in June, we were pleased to announce Bobby and Bonnie Hammel and Stuart Krawitz as inaugural recipients of the JCC of the Lehigh Valley Extraordinary Service Award. This award marks a new level of recognition for extraordinary service and uncommon dedication by an individual to the Jewish Community Center of the Lehigh Valley.
Bobby, Bonnie and Stuart have supported the JCC in countless ways throughout the years. This year was extraordinarily special. Bonnie and Bobby provided the JCC with a $1 million gift and a $900,000 loan that allowed the JCC to successfully exit its mortgage agreement with Wells Fargo.
Stuart initiated and stewarded the negotiation strategy with outside counsel that ended in resolution of the JCC’s debt to Wells Fargo at a significant discount. He also well-positioned the JCC to maximize its financial return on the sale of its camp property in a bid to further reduce our debt and reduce overall operating expenses.
Through their combined effort, Stuart, Bonnie and Bobby have provided our JCC with greater time and flexibility to make the wise decisions needed to secure our future. Although we could not be together in person in June to celebrate their extraordinary contributions, we were glad to be able to celebrate virtually and to honor them as inaugural recipients of the JCC of the Lehigh Valley Extraordinary Service Award. A display off the main lobby will be installed this fall to publicly and permanently recognize the award recipients.