Shabbat Shalom from Maple Lake

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Hello from sunny Maple Lake! Two weeks ago we came together as a community to celebrate our first Shabbat together. Now, as this Shabbat begins, we can hardly believe that we are going into our final days of first session! This has been such an exhilarating week at camp – Visitor’s Day on Sunday saw hundreds of family and friends at camp. We welcomed Avram Mandell from Tzedek America who taught our campers about Jewish history and Jewish text through pickling, and some of our campers even made their own jars of pickles. Today was filled with Israeli songs and dances, and activities planned by our mishlachat (Israeli Delegation) as we celebrated Yom Yisrael. All this week, camp was filled with ruach, teamwork and bonding experiences that create lifetime friendships and memories.

In particular, yesterday’s B’libenu Move-a-Thon, was a success. Campers ran, walked, or jogged in support of health and wellness at camp. Thank you to all the parents, family and friends who sent over 60 Tweets of support and donated over $2,500 that will be directed towards camp’s new Health & Wellness Centre. A portion of the proceeds will also be donated to Save A Child’s Heart, an Israeli organization that provides free lifesaving surgeries to children in developing countries.

In addition to all the special camp-wide programs, our units have been really busy as well with lots of fun activities and programs happening throughout the week.

Nitzotzot had a wonderful third week of camp! Our campers had a blast performing in the Disney themed airbands evening program. Cabins also worked together to build boats out of recycled material, which they used to race their counselors in. In addition, our fantastic cornerstone fellow lead a fun program where the campers participated in storybook challenges.

Lehavot had a great third week of camp!  They had a great time running in the B’ilibenu Move-a-Thon and learned about Israel on Yom Israel!  The campers also had fun decorating cakes at our birthday party EP and dunking their counselors with water in Kids Court!

Kochavim had an amazing third week at camp! Both the boys and the girls enjoyed a successful overnight trip to Gan Matan sleeping in tents and relishing on hotdogs and s’mores! After spending some time making special preparations and decorations for Shabbat, the Edah (unit) was in total motion for the B’libeinu run and danced an Evening Program away with Air Bands! As the last few days for first session are among us, the Kochavim staff and campers are fully embracing their unit theme of Kochavitation, a constellation of stellar friendships that turn into a unforgettable memories!

Barak had a successful and meaningful Barak Gives Back day, as they headed to Parry Sound to do various Tikkun Olam projects and give back to the greater community. B3 also enjoyed an incredible canoe trip as a cabin, while the rest of the unit enjoyed their time at camp, engaging in fun programs such as Minute to Win It and Stones!

The CITs have almost completed their 2nd placement and continually keep getting great feedback! They have planned and executed several more Evening Programs, and have had an amazing time! All the CITs participated in B’libenu and raised awareness for a great cause! And we are getting excited for our upcoming Ottawa trip!

Looking ahead to the next few days, and the final days of the session, we are excited about:

  • The Kochavim/Barak play
  • Hagigah arts festival
  • Staff baseball game
  • Camper banquet
  • And more!

To view our weekly recap video, This Week at George, please click here. Wishing you a wonderful Shabbat,

Jeff Rose
Director