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Spring 2014 s”ga, chct
From Jacob Cytryn, Director The best thing about leading Ramah Wisconsin is the human partnerships. Partnerships with our committed lay leaders and volunteers; the parents of hundreds of campers; rabbis and other leaders of our constituent communities; our year-round and summer senior professionals; over two hundred staff members. The nature of many of these partnerships, I was convinced years ago, is perhaps the most salient aspect of our organizational culture that makes us exceedingly special if not absolutely unique. The exceptional nature of these partnerships are what first attracted me to dream of someday working full-time for the summer camp I loved as a child, and that attraction remains stronger than ever, for those exact reasons. There is one type of partnership that was not on my radar, one that contributes annually to the strength of our programming and the product we offer our campers, their families, and the broader Jewish community. This is the partnership of committed donors with passion and visions of powerful programmatic initiatives. From foundations whose gifts literally shape Jewish culture in America and Israel to endowments and multi-year pledges created by Ramahniks like you, these partnerships help push Yael and me, and our entire staff, to new heights, solidifying and building upon classic strengths of Ramah Wisconsin while also pushing us to innovate and renovate areas in which we could be much stronger. Every year, established endowments by multi-generational Ramah families help define for us some of our scholar-in-residence choices and the theme of the Zimriyah (song festival), among many other topics. Recent commitments have radically transformed the culture of shirah (singing) in camp, a project that continues to bear significant fruit. The trustees who monitor our largest single endowment require that, on a yearly basis, we lay out specific programmatic foci for the coming summer, and cut off that specific endowment’s support after three years. And, in the last decade or so, as Jewish summer camping has erupted onto the communal agenda, major philanthropists and foundations have engaged with us to improve many facets of camp. This year alone, new funding from The Crown Family, The Covenant Foundation and The Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago are pushing us to new heights. Some highlights to look forward to during the 2014 summer, all of which are outgrowths of these processes: • a curricular and programmatic initiative to empower pre-teen and adolescent girls around issues of Jewish ritual • a process to assess and recommend future steps for our performing arts program, with a specific focus on our Northwoods Ramah Theatre Company, the creation of the Nivonim English Play, and the Shabbat programming developed by our Jewish Studies and drama staffs
We look forward to expanded outdoor education, nature and ecology activities this summer
• new approaches to ongoing professional development for our staff, including the hiring of additional new staff trainers and a renewed focus on the diverse backgrounds of our campers • the expansion of our special needs programs’ impact and ability to support our campers and staff, including investing in a new top-level professional • the addition of cutting edge outdoor education programming with a focus on nature and ecology education • bringing additional short-term artists and coaches to camp to bolster our campers’ and staff members’ skillsets in sports, art, and the performing arts These specific projects are all new for the 2014 season, and join a panoply of existing similar annual projects from which we reap enormous benefits every summer. They are made possible by ongoing financial support for our annual scholarship and annual fund campaigns which supplement tuition dollars, by periodic capital campaigns, and by the commitment of individuals, families, and foundations who adamantly believe in the work we do at Ramah Wisconsin, our nearly seventy-year track record of excellence in education, and our ability to impact the lives of our campers and staff every summer. By entrusting us to develop and implement these projects, in addition to providing the funds that allow them to happen in the first place, these partners make a powerful statement about who we are and what we are capable of accomplishing. Many of us know the clichéd adage about why kids love camp so much and return year after year: “the friends.” We also know that this answer obscures so much of the power of camp which, though fueled and centered on friendship, is about so much more. In actuality, the power of camp is a larger category in which friends is but one component: partnerships. Thank you for being our partners in the holy work that Ramah in Wisconsin realizes every summer, in whatever way you support us. May these partnerships, and new ones, contribute to a safe, successful, and superlative 2014 season.
Stay in touch with Camp Ramah via our blog and youtube channel at www.ramahwisconsin.com. To receive our weekly e-newsletter, HaMirpeset Shelanu, send an email to arosen@ramahwisconsin.com.