Release: Head of JCC Named One of Most Influential Women

This release was sent to Patch by the JCC.

Often termed a best kept secret, the is no secret anymore as Rina Shkolnik was recognized as one of Long Island’s most influential women in business by Long Island Business News at a recent awards ceremony at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. 

The Top 50 Most Influential Women in Business Award honors women like Rina for their business acumen, mentoring and community involvement. 

As the executive director of the JCC of the Greater Five Towns, Rina is a highly focused and successful leader who continually reinvents the wheel to keep the JCC in pursuit of meeting new and emerging needs of a diverse Five Towns community.  Under her direction, the JCC has been able to triple its budget and expand vital programs for children, adults and senior citizens.  

Such programs include Connect to Care that helps residents coping with unemployment and other hardships as a result of the economic decline. The free service, run by licensed social workers, offers assistance in employment and career transition, debt counseling and budgeting assistance, bankruptcy and foreclosure prevention and health insurance options. 

Over 350 residents in their 20s to those nearing retirement age have been helped by Connect to Care, which sees an average of four new clients each week.  

Similarly, the expansion of the kosher food pantry from a cramped corner of the JCC’s basement to a storefront on Central Avenue in Woodmere has been a rapid response to the growing need among those in the community seeking supplemental food assistance.  

For over 200 local families, many of whom are not eligible for food stamps or other assistance, the pantry provides non-perishable kosher food products and personal care items.  For meat, poultry, dairy and fresh produce, the JCC distributes vouchers through its “Neighbor Helping Neighbor” initiative for families in need to use at local supermarkets.  

Since taking the reins of the JCC in 2002, Ms. Shkolnik has overseen the organization which today serves around 16,000 individuals from through 18 different sites throughout the community. During that time the nursery school has doubled its enrollment and has opened a daycare center for working parents.

The JCC’s Russian elderly department has tripled in offering socialization and companionship for the region’s burgeoning immigrant population from that country and new and innovative programs have been created to meet the needs of the frail and elderly in the Five Towns.  

Addressing the needs of the community’s children, especially those with physical or intellectual disabilities, the JCC is again at the forefront in providing opportunities with such innovations as Camp Friendship, a highly acclaimed day camp which integrates special needs children with their mainstream peers. Pizza with Pals is a social skills program for teenagers with special needs.  

On a global level, the JCC has forged bonds and built partnerships with Jewish communities in Argentina, Bulgaria and Israel and has integrated those international relationships with many of the area’s synagogues and schools. As part of business and cultural exchange programs with Jewish communities around the world, Ms. Shkolnik is sharing knowledge and ideas in building Jewish communities.  

While the JCC continues to be a lifeline for so many in need, whether it is those with economic difficulties, special needs children and teens or the elderly, the JCC is still a central point within the community, offering many of the traditional elements that a JCC is known for. You can still find a variety of arts, cultural and recreational pursuits appealing to just about anyone in the Greater Five Towns, making the JCC truly an “organization with heart.”  

The Jewish Community Center of the Greater Five Towns is a beneficiary agency of the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of New York, a member agency of the United Way of Long Island, the Jewish Community Centers Association and an affiliate of the Five Towns Community Chest.

It serves the communities of Cedarhurst, East Rockaway, Far Rockaway, Hewlett, Inwood, Lawrence, Lynbrook, Malverne, Valley Stream, West Hempstead and Woodmere. For more information, please contact the JCC at 516-569-6733, or visit www.fivetownsjcc.org.