the jcc

when i was a kid the president of the shul i attended used to give a special appeal speech trying to encourage people to donate otherwise all that will be left on the grounds of the shul will be a jcc. it was a very entertaining speech that i admired for its originality. unfortunately the jcc in the city i grew up in is not as widely attended as it had been when i was a kid. though the shul i had attended is still in existence i don't find it to be such a positive stronghold for judaism either. but thats another conversation for another post that i probably wont write.
shuls are very important , but jewish community centers are perhaps more important. jewish community centers create a location that can foster ahavas yisrael whereas a shul if too consumed by its own religious fervor might not be able to ,
much as aish hatorah and chabad might believe  everyone is not going to be frum . however every jew might  still want to associate with judaism.  when jews don't care enough to identify as culturally jewish the next option isn't usually to explore frumkeit, the option is usually no affiliation to anything jewish. as long as jews are engaging in jewish events, even " just" cultural ones there is still a hope for them wanting to affiliate more with judaism. .
the jcc also sets the stage for mingling between religious and non religious jews because everyone is welcome. even an event that might seem interesting only to frum jews might attract non-frum because the event is being held in a open to all streams of judaism jewish  setting.
long live the jcc.