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7/10/2019 The Weekly Schmooze Issue #1
WEEK IN REVIEW from our unit directors
K’ton Ton
The first week of K’ton Ton was so exciting!! So many campers, so cute! Some arrived for the first time, a bit hesitant but willing to give camp a try, and it turned out to be a great decision. Others returned and were so happy to see their friends from last summer! We went swimming, cooked, danced, sang songs, did arts & crafts, played volleyball, went boating and celebrated America’s birthday. Overall our first week of K’ton ton was terrific!
Shalom
We had a great first week in Shalom. We made new friends and reconnected with old ones. We met some wonderful counselors that are going to help us all summer and encourage us to try new things. We got to make worry dolls, celebrate the 4th of July with a picnic and do some Mexican bark painting. We had many new experiences and are very excited for all the fun things to come. - Megan Adinolfi “A Week in the Life of a Chalutz Camper: Volume 1”
As we wrap up on our first week of camp, I’d like to reflect on some of the highlights of this week! During week one Chalutz traveled through “North America”, learning fun facts as well as historical information about the United States and Canada. Chalutz campers also participated in many collaborative art projects (which are hanging beautifully in our shelter), showed sportsmanship during leagues, and cheered their friends on during lawn games at our 4th of July Celebration on Squeaky Field! The campers and counselors showed their patriotism as well as practiced the value of “Friendship” throughout the week. Campers and counselors alike reconnected with old friends while also making their new friends feel welcome! Jeff and I are excited to continue this journey with all of our campers and staff, but we felt that it was necessary to Menschen a few that truly encompassed the spirit of friendship this week! Senior Counselors Sam Suhr and Nick Veneziano, whom have been inseparable since they met at camp two years are just that!
Week 1 Leagues Postings:
Maccabiah
First week in Maccabiah was full of creating friendships between campers and counselors. Although there was no Wednesday trip this week, everyone in the division had fun engaging in several activities with their groups on the campgrounds. Many campers said that their favorite things about the week included swimming, archery, cooking our apple pie parfaits, making friendship bracelets, basketball, bowling, and our shabbat celebration. You would never believe that it was some of the campers first time ever at camp, as we all already feel like we are one big happy family and it is only the first week! Speaking on behalf of the whole division, I know we are all excited to be welcoming even more campers into our family for week 2!
Teen Travel
Teen Travel had a very fun first week. We began on Monday by rock climbing and challenging each other to climb difficult rock walls. Many were successful in conquering the 12-foot warped wall, a difficult task. Pizza made the day even better completing an overall fun trip. On Tuesday, we attended IPlay America, which made us feel like we had the indoor amusement park to ourselves. We had a blast on the bumper cars and laser tag. We played kids vs. counselors/directors in laser tag with both teams winning once, an awesome experience. Wednesday we went to Chocolate Works, to make our own chocolate and to buy lots of sugar. People made chocolate baseball bats, ballet slippers, phone cases, and many other cool things. We then all shared one humongous oreo cake, which was delicious. Finally, on Friday, we went to Shabbat and had bowling. The Challah bread was awesome as always, and we sang and danced at our culminating end of the week Shabbat show. Then at bowling, we bowled, ate, and played arcade games, and polished our day off with watermelon and ice cream. We cannot wait to see what's in store for Week 2! 
Value of the Week: Friendship
“The greatest gift in life is friendship.” -- Jewish Proverb The foundation of friendship is a willingness to help each other, loyalty, unselfishness, and love. It is these principles that the JCC Camp strives to teach our campers. Additionally, we seek to foster a community where our campers make life-long friendships. Friends are those people who help improve the parts that need improvement and strengthen the good parts. Friends are people who you can count on in the bad times and take pleasure in the good times. There is a story of two brothers that lived and farmed next to each other. One was married and had a large family, while the other was single. They lived in close proximity to each other, and each worked his land growing wheat. When harvest time arrived, each was blessed with a bountiful crop and piled up his grain for long-term storage. The unmarried brother, observing his good fortune, thought to himself that God had blessed him with more than he needed, whereas his brother, who was blessed with a large family, could surely use more. He arose in the middle of the night and secretly took from his grain and put it in his brother’s pile. Similarly, the married brother thought to himself that he was fortunate to have children who will care for him in his old age, while his brother will depend on what he saved. He, too, arose in the middle of the night and quietly transferred grain from his pile to his brother’s. In the morning, each pondered why there was no noticeable decrease in his own pile, and so they repeated the transfer the next night. These nocturnal activities went on for several nights until one night the brothers bumped into each other in the field between their homes. In that instant, in the dark of night, the glow of brotherly love lit up the mountain sky; they each understood what the other had been doing and fell into each other’s arms in a loving embrace. The field where the brother’s met is known as the “The Field of Brotherly Love,” and legend has it, that the field where the brothers embraced is the sight of our campground. For God felt that this was the perfect location for a summer camp for children, where so many friendships are born and nurtured. Comments are closed.
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