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New Chabad House Delayed Due to Lack of Funds

Roseville Press Tribune

It may not look like it, but about $200,000 worth of work has been completed on Placer County, California’s first Chabad house since its groundbreaking more than two years ago.

The 7,400-square-foot Shapiro Chabad Jewish Community Center will replace the old fire station on Douglas Boulevard in Granite Bay. But, currently, the site is overgrown with weeds and unfinished because of a lack of funds.

The nonprofit Chabad of Placer County needs about $1 million to complete the project.

“With the economy, it’s not an easy time to do a project like this,” said Rabbi Yossi Korik. “Thank God for the generosity of the community we’ve been able to move forward, although not at a speedy pace.”

The project experienced a six-month delay after the April 2010 groundbreaking, waiting for the permit process to wrap up. Crews then completed the project’s first phase, which involved new sidewalks, utility connections, fire lines and other property improvements.

Landscaping is the next big undertaking, which will begin this summer if enough funds are available, Korik said. With the exception of some grant money from a Jewish organization in New York, most of the funding is through local donations.

“This is a community project,” Korik said. “It’s done by the community, for the community.”

Crews will then construct the center. They will add new spaces around the existing building and refinish the exterior. The center will be a place of worship, learning and celebration. There will be a Shul, kitchen to prepare kosher meals, classrooms for Hebrew and Torah lessons, social hall and a Mikvah.

“A lot of people think this is so important because it’s the first Jewish community center in south Placer County and it will bring more diversity and culture to the area,” Korik said.

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5 Comments

  • Gwyn

    Too bad. It would have been the nicest looking garage this side of the Mississippi.

  • Chaim

    Why are you calling it the “Shapiro chabad center” you shouldn’t name if after someone unless they pay for 50% of the cost. That is a basic Fund Raising rule

  • Linda Roth

    No. 2 — the management and administration of this classic chabad centre have their reasons, and they can name it anything they want to. I would name it: THE SHAPIRO CHABAD COMMUNITY CENTRE”

  • Shaliach

    The first comment was gratuitously and needlessly nasty. Best wishes for continued hatzlacha in your shlichus, from another Shaliach who is having trouble raising the necessary funds for a new Chabad Center.