Growing Chabad Moves Forward on New Campus

Rabbi Sholom Schmerling and his wife Rivka started the Chabad of Venice & North Port, FL, with a handful of people in their living room in 2005. On Sunday, they will break ground on a new 11,000-square-foot synagogue complex on a 4.2-acre campus.

From the Herald-Tribune:

It will mark the start of the second and largest phase of the project. The first phase, a 3,600-square-foot youth center, should be finished in two months, Schmerling said.

“The life center and the youth center together … we definitely are taking a very big step forward,” Schmerling said.

The Chabad needs to raise about $4 million to build the campus and is close to hitting the $1 million mark. It bought the property in 2012 for $375,000.

Click here to continue reading at the Herald-Tribune.