While many essential services throughout Alabama have been halted, the Levite Jewish Community Center knows life doesn’t stop for those on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak.

That is why the JCC has created two opportunities where medical professionals and other families in need can find childcare and meals.

Since the center is closed to the public until further notice due to the outbreak, children between the ages of 5-12 will have plenty of room to play and roam during its Operation Cares: Camp which will be open today and Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Parents can pre-register for the camp by visiting the JCC’S website.

Through Operation Cares: Kitchen, families and children who rely on breakfast and lunch programs at school can also grab a meal today and Friday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. The JCC is located at 3960 Montclair Road in Birmingham.

JCC Marketing Director Katie Hausman said showing compassion for one another during a time of such confusion and chaos can be a powerful act.

“In Judaism, we say ‘Tikun Olam’ which means ‘repairing the world,’” Hausman said. “For us, this is how we can help right now.”

The camp is only available for medical professionals’ children. Hausman said the JCC has summer camps for children every year. So it wasn’t hard to get the resources together to create a camp for medical professionals within a couple of days.

It was important to create this resource quickly. Many JCC members work in the medical field, Hausman said. So, it was easy to see the yawning need for childcare.

“As soon as schools started closing, people started saying, ‘Well, what do I do? I have to go to work and they can’t go to school.’” Hausman said. “We want to be able to allow these people to go back to work.”

To adhere to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines of social distancing, the camp is only accepting 50 who will then be split up into groups of 10 or 12. The camp cost $30 per child per day, but Hausman said healthcare workers who are facing financial hardships can contact camp director Tina Weldon at tweldon@bhamjcc.org to work things out.

“We don’t want kids staying in unsafe situations because of a family’s inability to pay,” Hausman said.

Hausman doesn’t know how the camp and lunch program will look like next week. Life in Alabama is changing day-by-day, if not hour-by-hour because of the pandemic. But she said the JCC will stay up-to-date on the coronavirus and will decide every three days whether or not they will continue to provide the camp.

Hausman believes their efforts – and the efforts of others who are helping those in need – is starting the foundation of something great for the communities. Many local restaurants and the Mountain Brook School District has donated meals, milk, fruits and veggies to the JCC for the camp. Counselors who weren’t originally a part of JCC’s summer camp have volunteered their time to watch the kids.

“Banding together as a community is not only going to help us get through this, but also be able to recover from this afterword,” Hausman said. “The coronavirus is out there. Some will get it. Some of us will not. So for me, the big question is, ‘What’s on the other side of this for us?’ Being a helpful part of this community is just going to make us stronger on the other side.”