THE
GIVERS Genna Singer
For Many Camps, Community Service Is An Essential Part Of Growing Up By Jess Michaels
The JCC in Manhattan
B
eyond all the exciting activities that summer camp is known for—from swimming to ropes course to arts and crafts—many day and resident camps include another kind of activity in the mix that’s more about doing good than having a good time (though that’s often a part of it too). At camp, volunteering and other altruistic activities usually come under the rubric of community service. They include activities and events like swim-a-thons, performing for local senior centers, volunteering in local soup kitchens, painting old buildings, making crafts for sick children in the hospital, and sending letters to soldiers stationed in war zones. The projects are quite common. The American Camp Association surveys have found that 48
percent of responding camps offer community service programs, with 16 percent of responding camps indicating that they had added new service learning or community service programs in the past two years. “Many of our camps have been doing community service projects for years, with many more camps adding them each summer,” says Susie Lupert, executive director of the American Camp Association, New York and New Jersey. “We have over 40 day and sleepaway camps in the northeast participating in swima-thons or carnival fundraisers each summer that benefit Morry’s Camp, a nonprofit youth development camp for inner-city children. These fundraisers, as well as other community service projects at camp, teach children the importance of
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giving back to others.” Often community service projects come up when the camp leaders hear about a local need, but sometimes there’s a precipitating incident in the news. “We have been doing community service projects for 15 years, but it really picked up after 9/11,” says Jay Toporoff, director of Camp Danbee, an all-girls sleepaway camp in the Berkshire Mountains. “We were all giving blood after 9/11 and wanted to do whatever we could to help. It dawned on us that we could offer one week of camp for children who lost a parent or sibling as a result of the terrorist attacks on 9/11.” Toporoff, along with two other camp directors, started America’s Camp, hosted at Camp Danbee, where children who lost a loved one could go to camp for a week and
heal through music, activities, and a supportive community with other children going through the same experience. “Over the years, the Danbee campers helped us to get ready for America’s Camp by making welcome signs and writing letters,” he adds. These days, Camp Danbee has even made community service an official part of the camp’s program, where campers sign up to participate in activities of their choice. “I start off each summer at the opening campfire talking to the girls about how lucky and blessed they are to be able to go to camp and that we should pay it forward,” Toporoff says. Camp Danbee often picks projects that are personal to their continued on page 34