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Dear Chevre (Friends),

The new year is here, and while we are so excited for all that’s to come in 2026, it’s important to reflect on last year’s moments that got us here. From everyday programming to signature events, 2025 brought community, growth, and immense joy to everyone at the Tucson J.  

 

Throughout the year, we hosted incredible arts and culture events — musician Neshama Carlebach, Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, theatre dybbuk, Z3@Tucson, along with many artists in the Fine Art Gallery and the Jill Rosenzweig Memorial Sculpture Garden. 

 

Over the summer, we welcomed over 800 teenagers and their families for the JCC Maccabi Games® & Access in Tucson. It was an incredible success, and I am thankful for your dedication, time, and effort in making the experience so memorable for everyone involved.  

 

Together, we celebrated each holiday, coming together most recently for the 9th annual Hanukkah Hot Cocoa Run, which gathered 460 racers, and dozens of cheering spectators and generous volunteers.  

 

But these big events do not underscore the importance of the small, everyday moments that fill the J with magic — the ECE toddlers taking their first steps, achieving a personal record in the Fitness Center, or learning something new in an arts + culture program. Rather, 2025 was marked by a beautiful mosaic of the big and small, ordinary and extraordinary. 

 

In the year ahead, I hope you will join the J for both the big and small — our upcoming annual Community Shabbat, exciting arts and culture events, invigorating sport and fitness programs, and another fun summer at Camp J. 

 
May 2026 be filled with peace, health, and community.  


With gratitude,

Fran Katz,
Chief Development Officer

Winter at the Tucson J is a time of connection and forward momentum. As participation across our campus continues to grow, we remain focused on creating welcoming, high-quality experiences for members and guests at every stage of life. This quarter was marked with progress as we welcomed new leadership, expanded outreach and partnerships, and welcomed new members to experience the magic of the J. Together, these efforts strengthen the sense of belonging that defines the Tucson J. Some standout achievements from this quarter are: 

  • hiring Matt McQuoid as our inaugural Chief Experience Officer to provide new leadership to enhance member and guest experience.  
  • implementing a successful Pre-Black Friday Sale in November that brought many new members to the community and rolled out a Winter Sale that runs through early January, helping people of all ages start off 2026 with wellness and connection. 
  • hosting several community partnership events, including the 5th AgeWell Day which connected older adults with their peers through art, lecture, and fitness activities.  
  • recognizing our dedicated members through Membership Appreciation Week, with five days of giving.  
  • celebrating our talented team at the annual Staff Holiday Celebration.   
  • welcoming our new Event + Rentals Specialist, Armando Alvarez, who will help expand outreach and grow our rentals and partnership visibility in the community. 
newsletter graphic with the words Fitness and wellness on a teal background

At the Tucson J, Fitness + Wellness is about more than exercise—it’s about creating opportunities for holistic health at every stage of life. This quarter our Fitness + Wellness programs continued to make a meaningful impact across ages, abilities, and interests. From health education and prevention-focused partnerships to competitive athletics, creative movement, and large-scale community events, the J remains a trusted place for individuals and families to build strength, confidence, and connection. Participation across leagues, lessons, and enrichment programs highlights both growing engagement and the depth of experience our team delivers—supported by strong leadership and thousands of hours of personalized member interaction. Some highlights and successes from this quarter include: 

  • honoring Fall Prevention Month in September by partnering with Tucson Medical Center (TMC) for an event offering a complimentary fall assessment, with 104 older adults receiving fall assessments that day; and attending the Alzheimer’s Walk at Reid Park in October with participants and families from our Healthy Aging programs.  
  • bringing Movement/Arts Immersion participants and families to the Tucson Auto Museum and Reid Park Zoo for outings focused on social connection and fun.  
  • providing support through a Lunch and Learn event sponsored by AbbVie for participants and families in our Parkinson’s Wellness program. 
  • ending the 2025 J-Rays Swim School group swim lesson season with 276 swimmers in group lessons from March-October this year.  
  • celebrating Stingrays Swim Team success at many successful meets including the Copper Sprint Classic in Sahuarita and the JSC Fall Invite in Scottsdale, with 21 new personal bests, 25 Regional-qualifying swims, and 8 State-qualifying swims.  
  • closing out the Fall Men’s Basketball League with 70 players and the Co-ed Volleyball League with 81 players (doubling participation over last year!).  
  • promoting Evan Holt to Aquatics Director alongside his responsibilities as head coach for the Stingrays Swim Team.  
  • sharing the light and joy of Hanukkah with 460 community members—140 more than last year—for the 9th Annual Hanukkah Hot Cocoa Run. 
  • ending our newly restructured dance program with 8 dancers performing in an end of semester recital. 
  • partnering on the return of ACEing Autism at the J which brought inclusive tennis programming to 14 participants and enlisted 40 volunteers to help.  
  • concluding the year with 15,820 private or semi-private sports, tennis, aquatics, and personal training sessions, totaling 32,327 hours of member experiences.  

Arts, culture, and community engagement at the Tucson J continues to be powerful pathways for connection, reflection, and Jewish life. This quarter, our work brought together people of different ages, identities, and perspectives through creative expression, meaningful dialogue, shared ritual, and remembrance. From an immersive artistic residency and thoughtful conversations about Jewish peoplehood and Israel, to family-centered celebrations, and grassroots leadership, these efforts reflect a community deeply engaged in shaping Jewish life together. Moving into the final quarter of 2025, the impact we have is demonstrated in the success and progress we’ve made, for example: 

  • engaging 37 new individuals through over three weeks of programming with theatre dybbuk as an artist-in-residency in October, which included a community story writing program, a masterclass, sold-out cooking class, professional development workshop on communication, and two performances of the experimental, Dracula (Annotated) production. 
  • facilitating our inaugural Z3@Tucson conference in November with nearly 100 participants spanning different age demographics and perspectives exploring themes centered around Jewish life and peoplehood and our connection to Israel and world Jewry. 
  • sending two community members to attend the Jewish National Fund Conference as Reform Movement Alumni for Israel (RAFI) delegates to further our work around global Jewish Peoplehood. 
  • honoring the memory of those lost on October 7, 2023, with Together We Walk co-hosted by the Weintraub Israel Center, a partnership between the J and JPSA. 
  • beginning a year-long Queer Torah Study program. 
  • empowering lay leaders Paul Binder and Kelsey Davita to host monthly Shabbat potlucks at the J with the success of the July pool party; this quarter, there were 104 participants. 
  • sending nearly 500 Rosh Hashanah greeting cards to families enrolled in PJ Library. 
  • hosting a number of PJ Library events including : 
    • a Sukkot carnival in partnership with THA 
    • a bilingual Sukkot story hour 
    • family yoga experience 
    • Musical Petting Zoo 
    • Bring Your Own Baby: Hanukkah Edition 
    • Hanukkah Extravaganza! In the Northwest at the NW YMCA 
    • A Hanukkah Experience for all ages at Rancho Sahuarita 
    • PJ Library tabling with craft at Tohono Chul Holiday Nights 
    • PJ Library tabling w/craft at Bet Shalom Hanukkah Party 

Children and youth engagement at the Tucson J continues to grow in both reach and impact. This quarter, our programs supported young people from infancy through the teen years with opportunities to learn, lead, and connect—grounded in Jewish values and strengthened through partnerships, professional excellence, and meaningful peer relationships. From expanding Early Childhood Education classrooms and investing in staff development, to vibrant teen engagement, intergenerational initiatives, and the return of Winter Camp J, these efforts reflect a strong and thriving pipeline of Jewish life at the Tucson J. As we reflect on the last quarter, we’re proud to share that we fostered growth and progress by: 

  • increasing our JClub participation to 614 members, with 328 of them falling into the 11-14 middle school age group. 
  • holding meaningful BBYO Monday night chapter meetings with guests including a guest speaker from CTEEN during a joint chapter debate night with 40 members in attendance. 
  • partnering with Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging on the fourth and final year of the Better Together grant programming, this quarter with a Rosh Hashanah event and Sukkot program. 
  • sending 26 BBYO members to the Mountain Region Convention in Phoenix. 
  • celebrating Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot in Early Childhood Education classrooms by collecting food for a local food pantry, making honey bowls, blowing the shofar, and spending time in the J’s sukkah. 
  • opening a 22nd ECE classroom, bringing our classroom breakdown to 4 infant rooms, six toddler rooms, five 2’s rooms, three-and-a-half 3’s rooms, and three-and-a-half pre-k rooms. 
  • offering 12 School Days Out with an average of 75 participates each day during Fall Break. 
  • sending 13 Early Childhood educators to participate in professional development at the Southern Arizona Association for the Education of Young Children annual conference at the University of Arizona College of Education, as well as Assistant Director of ECE, Tiffany Mills-Horton, and Meghan Briceland, ECE Communication and Curriculum coordinator, to Florida to attend the National Association of the Education of Young Children conference—the largest gathering of early childhood educators in the world with over 500 peer-reviewed sessions led by industry experts. 
  • welcoming Cass Johnson as our new Director of Camp + Youth and 40 returning staff for Winter Camp J, which had approximately 100 campers each day enrolled. 

At the Tucson J, inclusion goes hand-in-hand with opportunity. This quarter, our Disability Program Services community continued to expand vocational skills, deepen connections, and engage meaningfully with the broader community. From the new JShop internship program and coffee partnership with Adventure Coffee, to weekly adaptive swim sessions and stewardship projects in local parks, participants are building confidence, independence, and a sense of purpose. With new leadership on board and programming growing as we welcomed Arts for All participants to campus, Disability Program Services is helping define what true belonging looks like—while making the J stronger, more vibrant, and more inclusive every day. Recent developments in Disability Program Services include: 

  • building out our vocational programming with the grand opening of DPS’s JShop, a retail store at the Wellness Desk staffed by DPS participant interns and shoppable by the whole community; some highlights from this quarter at the shop are: 
    • partnering with local Adventure Coffee to sell ground beans, interns learned how to grind and make coffee for interested J members to sample before purchasing our custom “J Blend.” 
    • the graduation of the first cohort who completed 48 intern hours; these participants received a Certificate of Completion and will move on to other vocational opportunities at the J, including acting as JShop internship mentors to new J Shop interns. 
  • returning to swimming at Edith Ball, the City of Tucson’s recreational indoor therapy pool at Reid Park; this activity supports increased range of motion and flexibility, relief of pain, and overall relaxation. 
  • integrating Arts for All participants with their peers at the J for a total of 68 DPS participants.  
  • welcoming McKenna Czerny as Disabilities Program Specialist to provide additional support for program and curriculum design. 
  • developing a new community-based track for DPS participants; participants in this track visited DPS’ new Adopt a Park, La Madera Park. In addition to playing and eating at the park, participants and staff assisted with the park cleaning. DPS leadership staff then logged their work to help La Madera Park stay informed on any maintenance needs and to collect their progress towards DPS’ “ongoing stewardship commitment with a sign and ceremony at their adopted site.”