The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee held a socially-distanced, outside groundbreaking today to ceremonially begin the renovation and expansion of the Larry & Mary Greenspon Family Campus for Jewish Life. Lead donors and Jewish Federation leadership wore hardhats and held shovels in a socially distanced ceremony outside on the 32-acre campus. Donors were also presented with small gold shovels with their names engraved to honor the significance of their generous gifts.

Larry & Mary Greenspon made the lead gift to name the campus in 2018.  The couple has also named the sports area the Larry & Mary Greenspon Sports Complex. The Jewish Federation, through its "JFED Proud and Strong" campaign, has procured seven more lead gifts from the following donors:

• Joel and Gail Morganroth will name the 24,000-square-foot event center as the Joel and Gail Morganroth Event Center. The center will accommodate up to 1,000 people for exciting and entertaining programs, delicious events catered by Michael's On East, thought-provoking educational offerings and more. The venue will be available for use by the entire community for programming, life cycle events and holiday parties. It will have a variety of rooms to accommodate groups of all sizes and ample parking. 
• Mitchell and Dawn Epstein will name the main entrance to the Morganroth Event Center, a welcoming chuppah to be called the Epstein Family Chuppah.
• Jonathan and Michelle Mitchell will name the 3,300 square-foot-lobby in the Morganroth Center as the Mitchell Family Welcome Center.
• Karen and Tommy Bernstein will name a Jewish day camp in memory of their daughter, Marci Lynn Bernstein. The camp, for K–9 students, is expected to open in June 2022.
• Bob and Esther Heller have named the 4,800 square foot Israel Center in the Cultural Arts and Education building where students and the entire Sarasota-Manatee community can be educated about the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and Israel.
• Jules and Carol B. Green will name the Florida Israel Business Accelerator (FIBA) as the Green FIBA Center. It will connect Israeli business innovation with Sarasota-Manatee’s business community
• Through a legacy gift left by Bea Friedman, the 6,500-square-foot theater in the Cultural Arts and Education Building will be named in her honor.

In total, the "JFED Proud & Strong" campaign has raised $15.3 million toward a goal of $25 million. For more information about the campaign, click here.