Four Families. One Community.
It started with curly hair.
In the infant room at The Weinstein School at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, two baby girls — three weeks apart — kept getting mixed up in photos. “We’d ask, ‘Is that Ellie? Or Jessa?’” Dana laughs.
By the twos classroom, Diana joined them. By kindergarten and Club J, Kathryn was part
of the group. Today, the girls call themselves “The Besties.”
“What started as drop-off logistics became therapy,” Debbie says. “We talked about everything — work, parenting, life.”
Dana and Debbie began walking to school once a week — double strollers, toddlers, babies in carriers. The tradition stuck. What began as convenience became connection.
As the girls grew, so did their bond. They joined hip-hop together. Performed in MJCCA drama productions. Supported one another at dance recitals. They requested to be in the same cabin their first summer at Camp Barney Medintz —and they were!
Even as schools shifted — some at Dunwoody Elementary, one at Vanderlyn — they chose to stay close. Sleepovers. Playdates. A Disney cruise for two of the families. Annual girls’ nights at the MJCCA’s Jerry’s Habima Theatre production, followed by dinner.
“It’s so important to have a best friend — let alone three,” Debbie says. “There’s confidence in that. There’s security.”
The impact extends beyond the girls.
The families celebrate Passover, Hanukkah, and holidays together. Jennie, who is not Jewish, now hosts Hanukkah in her home. “It’s like family,” Jennie says. “We lean on each other. We trade pickups. We show up.”
For Meghan, whose middle child has Down syndrome, the MJCCA’s inclusion programs were the original draw. “There aren’t that many opportunities,” she says. “It’s not just that the MJCCA says ‘All Are Welcome.’ It’s that they mean it.”
For Debbie, raising Jewish children in a complicated world, the MJCCA offers something essential. “Having a place where our kids can be openly Jewish and feel safe matters more than ever.”
And for Dana, who once said she was wired to live in a community where kids run house to house, the MJCCA made that possible. “It’s not just a facility,” she says. “It’s an extension of our family.”
What began in an infant classroom became something lasting — four girls who found their people, and four families who did too. And at the Marcus JCC, that’s exactly the point.