Senate Resolution No. 612

BY: Senator BRESLIN

COMMENDING the staff and teachers at the Sidney
Albert Albany Jewish Community Center for their
brave and professional actions keeping their young
students safe during two recent bomb threats

WHEREAS, The quality and sanctity of community life are cherished
values, worthy of safeguarding, and this Legislative Body is moved to
honor those individuals who serve to preserve and protect such values,
lauding particularly their unwavering courage and dedication in the
daily performence of their duties; and

WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is justly proud to commend the staff
and teachers at the Sidney Albert Albany Jewish Community Center for
their brave and professional actions keeping their young students safe
during two recent bomb threats; and

WHEREAS, For over a century, the Sidney Albert Albany Jewish
Community Center (JCC) has provided a nurturing environment where
individuals and families can grow and develop in mind, body and spirit;
the Center serves the spectrum of family life, from infants through
seniors, through programs related to education, physical fitness, and
communal life; and

WHEREAS, Within the month of January, several Jewish community
centers on the East Coast have received bomb threats; on January 18,
2017, and then again on January 31, 2017, hostile bomb threats were
called into the Sidney Albert Albany Jewish Community Center; and

WHEREAS, Trained to deal with these perilous situations, the
dedicated staff and teachers at the Sidney Albert Albany JCC swiftly and
appropriately carried out practiced security protocols, ensuring the
safety and well-being of each and every student who is entrusted to
their care on a daily basis; and

WHEREAS, Due to the brave and commendable actions of the men and
women of the Sidney Albert Albany JCC, nearly 300 children, staff and
members were successfully evacuated from the building; and

WHEREAS, Realizing there are people who want to create fear, the
Sidney Albert Albany JCC, through its core Jewish values, continues to
remain true to its mission of peace, by providing a safe haven for local
families; and

WHEREAS, Our society is greatly strengthened by people like the
faculty of the Sidney Albert Albany JCC, who, through their astute and
skilled actions, prove that the power of hope endures and inspires even
in the darkest of circumstances; and

WHEREAS, This Legislative Body wishes to express its highest
admiration to the exceptional staff and teachers at the Sidney Albert
Albany JCC who, in the face of danger, nobly demonstrated their
character and compassion for the welfare of their students,
personifying, by virtue of their actions, the collective concern of

ordinary citizens across the community of the State of New York who
swiftly respond when others are in need of help; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commend and thank the staff and teachers at the Sidney Albert Albany
Jewish Community Center for their brave and professional actions in
keeping their young students safe during two recent bomb threats; and be
it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to the Sidney Albert Albany Jewish Community Center.