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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (JTA) — In the struggle to keep their institutions alive, some are saying that Jewish community centers have lost their souls.

Last September, the board of directors of the Jewish Center for Community Services of Eastern Fairfield County voted to open the fitness facility, gymnasium and swimming pool on Saturdays, citing strong competition the center faces from other facilities in the area.

The Bridgeport, Conn., facility is now the third JCC in Connecticut to make the controversial decision to open on Saturdays. The other two are in West Hartford and Stamford.

JCCs in communities across the country have faced similar problems — in November, the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore rejected a proposal to open a local JCC on Shabbat.

This has been a pivotal period for the Bridgeport JCC. Indeed, the institution's survival has been in doubt. But the picture began to look rosier after a successful community effort to raise the funds necessary to keep the facility open.

Still, the decision to open on Saturday was just the latest in a series of fiscal survival tactics.

Stanley Strouch, chairman of the JCC's board of directors, said the Saturday opening, coupled with the unveiling of a new state-of-the-art fitness center, has already resulted in an increase in membership.

But Strouch and membership director Dan Green admitted that two members have resigned in protest over the decision to open on Saturday. Several others have said they will not renew.

Strouch said the JCC board hired GRS Consulting Group of Fairfield, Conn., to conduct an exhaustive study of the local market. The board also wanted to know what other JCCs across the country have accomplished by opening on Saturdays.

"In all the national studies GRS showed us, no Jewish center gained economically by opening on Saturday," said Strouch. "The difference for us is the opening of our new fitness center."