Lord Alan Sugar and his family, together with the Ronson family via The Gerald and Gail Ronson Family Foundation, have each made game changing pledges to Jewish Care to help fund its exciting new Redbridge Care and Community Campus development. Alongside these new commitments and funds already raised by the Redbridge Aid Golf Society, Jewish Care is now launching a campaign to raise the remaining £5million from the local community which is expected to be needed to complete the project.
As with all Jewish Care’s capital projects, Jewish Care receive no contribution from government and are completely reliant on the generosity of the Community to make them happen. These two outstanding displays of generosity will be the cornerstone donations for the project. Thanks to these incredible commitments, this much needed care and community campus is a step closer to becoming a reality for the local community, which will now need to play its part in funding the scheme.
Due to open in the summer of 2025 and subject to planning permission, the Jewish Care campus will be situated on the current Redbridge Jewish Community Centre site (formerly known as Sinclair House). This will be the only Jewish care and community hub servicing the Essex and East London Jewish community and will be comprised of a community centre space which will house a centre for people living with dementia along with a 66-bed care home, replacing Jewish Care’s Vi & John Rubens House in Gants Hill. Additionally, Jewish Care’s local Social Work and Meals on Wheels teams will be based on site.
The Sugar family have been long standing supporters of Jewish Care, showing unwavering commitment to the organisation over many decades by generously supporting Jewish Care’s services in Essex and East London, in addition to their ongoing support for the wider organisation. The Sugar family’s support for local services has included the substantial and generous donation of a Sugar Wing at both Vi & John Rubens House and the Redbridge Jewish Community Centre.
Gerald Ronson CBE and Dame Gail Ronson DBE too have been avid and incredibly generous supporters of Jewish Care showing exceptional commitment over many years. Dame Gail first became involved in the organisation in 1983 before it formally merged to form Jewish Care in 1990. Dame Gail went on to become a long-standing Trustee for many years, and now proudly holds the prestigious title of Honorary President. More recently the Ronson family very generously funded the thriving Ronson Family Community Centre at Jewish Care’s Sandringham campus in Harrow. Prior to this, the family also supported the construction of Jewish Care’s flagship campus in Golders Green, the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Campus.
Lord Sugar commented:
“We are proud to be supporting the exciting development of a new care and community campus in Redbridge. Our family have had a long and deep association with Jewish Care’s services in Redbridge, where my late mother was a resident at Vi & John Rubens House. We are absolutely delighted to be helping our older community live with dignity and compassion in facilities that deliver high quality care on a state-of-the-art campus. We hope our commitment will be a catalyst for Jewish Care’s other local supporters to join us and the Ronson family in making this project a reality, which the Essex and East London community truly deserves and can rightfully feel proud of.”
Dame Gail Ronson DBE commented:
“I have had the privilege of being involved with Jewish Care for over thirty years as a Trustee and now as an Honorary President and our family are delighted to be involved with this vital project to support the community in Essex and East London. Our connection with the Redbridge community goes back many decades now from when I first became involved in the organisation in 1983 where the Sinclair House site was then an independent community centre that was on the brink of closure. Gerald and I wanted to do all we could to help save it and hosted a fundraising event, which we were delighted stopped it from closing, and have had the privilege of seeing it thrive. We are delighted to play our role in establishing a new facility for the next generation in a community which we know is so very special.”
Lord Levy, Life President of Jewish Care commented:
“I’d like to thank both Lord Sugar and his family and the Ronson family for their incredibly generous commitments. Their exceptional gifts will have a far-reaching impact on the older Jewish community in Redbridge and Essex and will offer the highest quality of care to the most vulnerable whilst bringing our community together into a single space. Meeting the increasing and changing needs of our ageing community is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges we face. The innovative and exciting development of a care and community campus on the Sinclair House site is a hugely meaningful response to that challenge for our Essex and East London community, which will touch the lives of so many, and for which we are all so incredibly grateful for.”
Gayle Klein, Vice Chair of Jewish Care’s Board of Trustees commented:
“Having grown up in Essex and spent much of my youth at RJCC, together with being the only North East London Trustee at Jewish Care, I am thrilled and delighted to see the Redbridge Community Campus gain traction and secure these game-changing pledges from both the Sugar and Ronson families. Jewish Care can only be ambitious in providing the best care and services for our community with the commitment and generosity of our supporters. These incredible lead gifts allow Jewish Care here in Essex and East London to continue to support the many people who rely on our services with confidence and in an exceptional newly built campus that we have longed for. As a local and Jewish Care’s Co-Vice Chair my gratitude and appreciation to both families is immeasurable.”