Fairfield, CT - Chabad of Fairfield, a local Jewish organization, is in the early stages of purchasing the Elks Lodge located at 452 Brookside Drive on the corner of Samp Mortar. The new facility or 'Chabad House' will serve as a base for the organization's education and outreach activities, including family holiday celebrations, youth clubs, adult classes, lectures and a once-a-week Hebrew School for children.
"This will be transformational for the Jewish community," said Mark Zuckerman, who lives around the corner from the property. "Everyone will now have access to the wide array of programming the new facility can accommodate."
Chabad plans to keep the existing building but will give the exterior a facelift, with new windows, improved landscaping and a facade that offers the building a more residential look. The hope is to present a warmer, homier appearance that is in line with the organization’s embracing mission. Centrally located off Black Rock Turnpike, it is easily accessible to all Jews living in Eastern Fairfield County.
Rabbi Shlame Landa, the organization’s director, said Chabad has been leasing a section of the former Hillel Day School on Stratfield Road for the past three years, but found the school building wasn't warm and inviting and the facility limiting, given the diversity of its programming. “This forced us, with many of our various programs, to go offsite when dealing with scheduling and capacity issues,” he said. “This is a unique opportunity to purchase and renovate a space that can comfortably accommodate the vast majority of the programs that we’d like to do or are already doing.”
“The term that is sometimes used to describe Chabad's activities is cafeteria-style programming,” said Landa. “With membership-based programming, organizations often build a facility for the people which they serve. This building will be different - it will serve the entire community.”