Ladi Lopez Has Us At Hello
If there's anyone at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan who knows the building inside and out, it has to be Ladi Lopez. After 18 years at the JCC, the last eight in the role of greeter, there isn’t a single location—and very few people who walk through our doors—she doesn’t know.
“Ladi is the mayor of the JCC,” says Melissa Donovan, Chief Operating Officer of Health and Wellness and Membership. In her time here, first at the Health Club’s welcome desk on the fifth floor in the JCC’s early days, and for the past decade at her desk opposite security, Lopez has greeted thousands of visitors. ”I know everyone’s name and everyone knows mine,” she says. But while greeting may be the most visible part of her job, Director of Membership Alex Clavijo says “doing triage” is more accurate.
If someone is looking to register for a class, Lopez points them to registration; for a classroom, she’ll direct them. She gives tours to prospective members and helps with membership mailings. But more than anything, what makes Lopez good at her job is her personal interactions with the JCC community. “Whatever anyone needs,” says Clavijo, “Ladi is there. If a member needs help getting their Access-A-Ride, she helps them. If someone is hurt, she gets an ice pack.” She’s stayed with members who were waiting for family members to pick them up and walked older members who live locally home when they need a hand. “It makes them comfortable,” Lopez says. She even accompanied a member on the bus to her home on the East Side when she wasn’t feeling well enough to go home by herself. The woman’s daughter sent her flowers the next day.
Her concern for others goes beyond the human species, Clavijo shares. One day when she was at work, Lopez rushed to the aid of an injured cardinal outside the building. She put it in a box and watched over it until someone from an aviary came for it.
Lopez enjoys seeing the kids she knew as toddlers grow up, go to college, graduate, and beyond, as well as the exchanges that take place between community members. Watching the JCC grow also brings her joy. “It’s grown so much. There’s just so much going on. A lot more everything.”
When she suffered a stroke several years ago, Lopez learned that what you get is in direct proportion to what you give. Her absence as she recovered (which she has almost fully) was noted with concern by both staff and members, who asked about her, texted, and called to check in on her the entire time she was gone. When she came back, both members and staff “were so happy,” says Clavijo. And true to her style, upon her return, Clavijo says Lopez “didn’t miss a beat.”
Lopez has two grown children. Her daughter works for a JCC in Fairfax, VA (and for many years was a familiar face at our box office); her son, who is employed in the diamond district, plays basketball here. After work, Lopez spends several nights a week helping her elderly mother, who lives in the neighborhood. The rest of the week, the lifelong New Yorker (apart from a brief stint on the West Coast), calls Riverdale home.
For Lopez, an average day at the JCC is “being busy as soon as I walk in the doors. I don’t stay still ever.” Clavijo concurs, noting that in addition to her “great energy,” Lopez brings levity and warmth to the institution that she loves so much. “She really helps elevate the mission of the JCC through her understanding of community. Ladi Lopez is community!”
Sherri Lerner is the former editorial director at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. She has written and edited for numerous publications and is currently on the staff of the Wechsler Center.