Ramah Berkshires Annual Report 2022

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Annual Report

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"Ramah is such a great place. Our children talk about their experiences all year long and can’t wait to come back!"

- 2022 Camp Parent

(from summer 2022 parent survey)

MISSION STATEMENT Camp Ramah in the Berkshires is a vibrant summer camp community, where children grow in a beautiful and safe setting, surrounded by life-long friends and nurtured by spirited role models. From sports to the arts, swimming to outdoor adventure, camp is infused with the best of the traditions and values of Conservative Judaism: love of mitzvot, Hebrew language, and the land and people of Israel; commitment to inclusion and Tikun Olam; and the joy of learning and prayer.

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A MESSAGE FROM...

Atara Jacobson, President Susie Charendoff, Interim Camp Director

At Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, 2022 presented unexpected challenges as well as a welcomed sense of connectedness for the Wingdale community. We happily saw our health protocols return to near normalcy after two seasons that were impacted by COVID-19. This enabled campers to participate fully in the Ramah experience – singing, dancing, and spending time together as they had in pre-pandemic summers. At the same time, we experienced an abrupt leadership transition that made the day to day operations more difficult than in past years.

Thankfully, we felt the power of our community as many of our year-round and lay leaders, as well as National Ramah Commission leadership, stepped forward – offering their time, hard work, and support - to make the summer successful for our chanichim (campers).

In addition to very-needed opportunities for unwinding and relaxation, campers had their choice of activities and sports with peers, as well as exciting moments of community joy including edah plays; beautiful and spirited Kabbalat Shabbat services and shirah (singing) overlooking the agam (lake); the rikkudiyah (dance festival); and Yom Sport (color war). While Visiting Day – a typical staple of our summer – was replaced, Camp offered an amazing day of fun with ice cream trucks, inflatable toys, and swag thoughtfully placed on each full-summer camper’s bed.

Last summer, we welcomed the usual bevy of farm animals – chickens, pigs, goats, rabbits which delighted our younger campers – and our farm exploded with fresh produce making the farm-to-table dining elective incredibly popular. Our older campers traveled to places like Boston and Philadelphia, biked local trails, and experienced the outdoors through camping and hiking adventures. And everyone in Camp experienced Project 613, the commissioned scribing of our own sefer Torah. Future generations of Berkshires Ramahniks will benefit from this new Torah, inscribed with care by our 2022 campers and staff.

Our community came together with the full force of our strength – just when we needed it most: When more than half of our kitchen crew was out with the COVID virus during the first week of camp, dozens of parents and Board volunteers kept meal services going. They prepped, served, and cleaned in the chadar ochel (dining room) and kept their wits about them! Similarly, when one of our water pumps required servicing, our leadership team quickly mobilized and drove to the local markets to fill their trunks with more bottled water than needed. And for those able to join us, this year’s Gala was an amazing show of community at a sold-out event that celebrated generations of Ramahniks and the power of friendship, family, and love.

As we lean into Kayitz 2023, we reflect back on the experiences of Kayitz 2022 and the many lessons we learned along the way – the responsibility to deliver clear communications, the importance of social connectedness to support mental and physical health, and the transparent reinforcement of our child safety protocols in every corner of Camp. We also appreciate that more than anything, the Ramah Berkshires community is strong, supportive, and caring. It’s these values that make our Camp special.

We remain grateful to each and everyone one of you for your support of Ramah Berkshires over the past year. It is truly our kehillah kedoshah – our holy community– who make our Camp family so special.

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Project 613 In 2022, we launched an exciting new initiative called Project 613 to commission and scribe our very own Ramah Berkshires Torah. This brought together hundreds of people across our community—alumni, campers, parents, and staff —to collaborate on a meaningful project based on the 613th commandment, which is for every person to write a Torah scroll for themselves.

Leading up to Kayitz ’22, we held events at Temple Israel Center in White Plains, NY and Park Avenue Synagogue in NYC for members of our Ramah Berkshires community to scribe their own letter in the scroll. And during the summer, every chanich/a (camper) and staff member also had the opportunity to contribute to our Torah by writing their very own letter. We had a huge celebration at Camp once the Torah was completed, and our Gesher campers will utilize the Torah in the summers to come.

KAYITZ 2022 HIGHLIGHTS Day and Overnight Trips This summer, our A-Side chanichim (younger campers) went on day trips to amusement parks such as Lake Compounce and Splash Town. Other fun excursions included bowling, miniature golf, and trampolining. Our B-Side chanichim (older campers) went on multi-day overnight trips to neighboring states such as Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.

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They saw the Liberty Bell, rode rollercoasters at Hershey Park, visited the Boston Museum of Science, and learned about our history at the New England Holocaust Memorial, to name a few of the exciting activities. These trips helped create memories and the opportunity to bond outside of our camp setting.

Palmer Day Kayitz ’22 marked the return of the much-missed Palmer Day. Our chanichim practiced hard all summer for this annual contest against Ramah New England. The night before the festivities began, we held a big pep rally to introduce all the players and teams. The next day, we had competitions in soccer, softball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, basketball, cross country, swimming, dance, scrabble, and tennis. A fun time was had by all our competitors, and many new friends were made as we grew our intercamp relations with Ramah New England.

KAYITZ 2022 HIGHLIGHTS A-Side and B-Side Performances

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This kayitz, our A-Side chanichim were given the opportunity to create their own musicals, a program that was previously only offered to our B-Side chanichim. Each A-Side edah (division) wrote their own script, composed new music, and acted in an original show. 140 A-Side chanichim participated in these musicals, which were about topics such as making new friends, writing a new Torah, and getting out of a sticky situation. Our B-Side chanichim performed Finding Nemo, Matilda, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, and Legally Blonde. We have many budding thespians in our Ramah Berkshires community, and the resulting performances were wildly entertaining!

"My daughter spoke very highly of her counselors! I really appreciate their dedication and efforts to understand the unique qualities of each camper!"

- 2022 Camp Parent

(from summer 2022 parent survey)

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We added three

FIRE PITS

to camp this year, which gave our campers even more opportunities for magical nights filled with stargazing and s’mores.

The chanichim (campers) channeled their inner golfers and enjoyed putt putting at our new nine-hole

MINIATURE GOLF COURSE.

AROUND CAMP RAMAH MOUNTAIN BASE CAMP

Hiking to is always a highlight. This year, we added an upgraded campsite with platform tents to the base camp and a new lookout point on the top of Ramah Mountain.

Campers were able to grow their own produce, create nature crafts, and cook farm-totable dinners at our very own Ramah Berkshires

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FARM.

Our chanichim had a blast using our new headphones to party and dance the night away.

SILENT DISCO

AL HAGOVA (Outdoor Activities)

by the numbers 12 Farm-to-Table dinners at the Chava (farm) serving over 250 people

12 overnights on Ramah Mt, 162 campers 2 pigs, 1 goat, 3 ducks, 16 chickens, 2 guinea pigs, 20,000 bees 6 backpacking trips on the Appalachian Trail, 65 campers, 1040 miles hiked 101 fish caught, 3 gutted and cooked 50 bishulim (cookouts) serving over 600 people 3 bike trips, 40 campers, 3159 miles biked 23 varieties of vegetables and herbs grown 2 rafting trips, 156 campers

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"We believe that their already strong identities as Jews are enhanced by their summer experiences at Ramah Berkshires."

- 2022 Camp Parent

(from summer 2022 parent survey)

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During the non-summer months, we created many unique opportunities for our Ramah Berkshires family to joyously congregate together virtually and in-person. In 2022, these programs included: Project 613 - Commissioning and writing our own Ramah Berkshires Torah Gesher 2022 Shabbaton Reunion Partnerships with local synagogues Online Trivia Nights Online Dance Nights

YEAR-ROUND PROGRAMMING

MASTER SITE PLANNING/ CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS In 2022, Ramah Berkshires completed many capital improvement projects around camp. These ensure that our buildings, facilities, and infrastructure remain in great condition year after year. They also help us realize our master site plan for camp. The capital improvement projects included: A new floor at the Gesher Boys Bunk (B-Old Omanut) A porch extension at B25 Painting the ceiling and floor of the Chadar Ochel Sound system improvements at Ulam, Stadium Courts, and Beitan Shapiro

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DONOR EVENTS

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THANK YOU | ‫תודה רבה‬

Gala The 2022 Camp Ramah in the Berkshires Gala was held at Temple Emanu-El in Closter, New Jersey and honored Joan & Harvey Bucholtz and Amy & Rick Atlas. Joan and Harvey have been generous benefactors and volunteers for Ramah Berkshires since the 1970s. Their three daughters attended camp and now the next generation, their grandchildren, have started spending their summers at Ramah. Amy and Rick Atlas also have deep ties to Ramah Berkshires. The couple’s two sons attended camp and Rick (Gesher ’89), a former Ramah Berkshires camper and

staff member, serves on our Executive Committee. The Alumni Leadership Award was presented to the Hirsch siblings: Josh (Gesher ’01), Sigal (Gesher ’05), Sarah (Gesher ’09), and Max (Gesher ’12), for their years of dedicated service to Ramah. Over 250 members of our Ramah Berkshires community attended this special evening, which included cocktails, dancing, raffle prizes, and a silent auction. A huge success, the 2022 Gala raised over $230,000 for our Ramah Berkshires Annual Fund, which provides funding for new programming, staff training, and scholarships.

Golf Outing

Give the Gift of Camp

Our 15th Annual Ramah Berkshires Golf and Pool Outing was held on August 8, 2022, and our amazing co-chairs were Jesse David (Gesher ’00), Sam Goodman (Gesher ’04), and Josh Wohl (Gesher ’06). It raised over $25,000 for the Ramah Berkshires Annual Fund.

This Young Alumni Fundraiser was co-chaired by the incredible Emily Rebenstock (Gesher ’11) and Sarah Saad (Gesher ’11). In honor of this event, many of our alumni shared memories and throwback photos on social media.

Ultimately, 340 alumni donated to this campaign, which raised over $43,000 for camp scholarships. The funds received from this initiative will ensure that future children will be able to form lifelong friendships, grow in their Jewish identity, and experience the magic of a kayitz (summer) at Ramah just as our alumni once did before them.

FINANCIALS

Over the past four summer seasons, your support has allowed us to provide almost $1.75 million in financial tuition assistance.

2022 OPERATING REVENUE Grants Other Income $278,974 $193,848

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

2.8%

Charitable Giving $682,209

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4.1% 9.9%

$500,000 $400,000 $300,000 83.2%

$200,000

Tuition & Fees $5,718,221

$100,000 $0

2022 OPERATING EXPENSES General & Administration $771,903

Salaries & Benefits $3,023,402

2018 $436,560

2019 $454,146

2021 $397,463

2022 $452,225

We are pleased that we were able to meet the needs of all incoming camper families, ensuring that all enrolled campers were able to spend the summer in Camp.

10.9%

Program & m & Operations Operations 2,127,962 $2,127,962

42.6%

Salaries & Benefits $3,023,402

OPERATING FACILITY INVESTMENT

30%

$2,000,000

16.5%

Capital Improvements & Facilities $1,172,849

Sample Capital Improvements Repairing roofs Updating beds and staff housing Plumbing upgrades to A-side and B-side bunks New trucks and vehicles

$1,500,000

$1,000,000

$500,000

$0

2018

2019

2021

2022

RAMAH BERKSHIRES BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2022-2023 Executive Committee Ex Officio Atara Jacobson, President Sue Och, Senior Vice President Jon Apter, Development Vice President Rick Atlas, Finance Vice President Ian Dumain, Vice President Jeremy Kaplan, Vice President Ilana Kustanowitz, Vice President Harriet Shaiman, Vice President Rebecca Kahn, Secretary Richard Friedman, Chair

Board of Trustees Ari Berman Gena Cobrin Marc Damsky Moshe Horn Marc Kushner

Rabbi Luciana Pajecki Lederman Adin Meir Sarah Nanus Chava Ortner

Pat Davidson, Honorary Vice President James Schlesinger z"l, Honorary Vice President Pauline Siegel z"l, Honorary Vice President Robert Hirsch, Past President Steve Goldstein, Past President Dr. Charles Mann, Past Chair Dr. Hugh Pollack, Past President Richard Skolnik, Past Chair Amy Winiker Forrest, Alumni Association President

Julia Paris James Rothman Alan Schall Sarah Sokolic Eric Weinstein Lynn Weitzman

Year-Round Professional Team

Susie Charendoff, Interim Camp Director Rabbi Eytan Kenter, Camp Director Aleeza Adelman Shaya Kalmanofsky Alyson Papir Seth Adelsberg Susan Kennedy Adina Rothman Joe Almacky Rabbi Noam Kornsgold Yoni Saposh Allen Frangione Elisheva Layman-Salant Jason Smalley Miriam Greenblatt Abe Leinwand Emily St. Lifer

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