Preserving Camp and Community

As Chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s board, I have witnessed first-hand the ups and downs of the COVID-19 roller coaster and its impact on our field. We have all felt the emotional combination of uncertainty, anxiety, resilience, and exhaustion as we have navigated through the pandemic together.

Last May, I shed many tears watching each emotional video message from Camp Directors across the country, announcing the cancellation of their summer seasons. This year, I have shed tears again—this time tears of sheer joy, as camps post their opening day videos.

I am so proud of FJC’s efforts to galvanize and harness the collective energy and efforts of camp professionals, lay leaders, camper families, national funders, Federations and generous donors, all of whom stepped forward—with strength of purpose—to help weather the storm. We know the reopening of camps represents the beginning of the return to normalcy and creation of the sacred camp community.

For many, it’s not a minute too soon. Healthcare experts have documented troubling spikes in anxiety and depression among children and teens who have been cut off from their peers and routines. Camp is a remedy for this. Research has long shown the social and emotional benefits of camp to children’s healthy development, and in 2021, it’s hard to picture a time when kids are more in need of camp and the community it fosters.

Research has long shown the social and emotional benefits of camp to children’s healthy development, and in 2021, it’s hard to picture a time when kids are more in need of camp and the community it fosters.

It should come as no surprise that research from Foundation for Jewish Camp shows Jewish camp to be one of the most powerful forces for connecting young people to their Jewish identity. I know that as a child growing up in a largely non-Jewish community in the Midwest, Camp Ramah in California was nothing short of life-changing for me, and why I was adamant about sending my children, and now my grandchildren, there as well.

When COVID struck last spring and forced virtually all overnight camps to close, FJC acted quickly to mobilize the communal response needed to cover a massive $150 million funding gap. We aligned with clear goals and focused the field on reducing costs, borrowing funds, and raising money.

With the generous help of our donors, Federations, and Foundation partners, we secured the necessary emergency funds and loans to help stabilize and sustain camps that might have otherwise faced permanent closure. We then pivoted to address the challenge of helping camps safely and successfully welcome campers back in 2021. To meet the changing COVID-19 health protocols, camps needed more open spaces, additional staff, more equipment, and further financial resources.

By working collaboratively together—through thick and thin, through ups and downs—the field of Jewish camp is coming back. With quick and responsive actions taken during the pandemic, one by one, camps across North America have opened their gates once again, enabling tens of thousands of young people to come together to sing, dance, and laugh as a community for the first time in two years.

FJC works closely with and appreciates the deep commitment to Jewish camp from the entire Federation system. The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the local Federations in the U.S. and Canada stepped forward boldly to partner with the camping field through these challenges. In addition, FJC especially acknowledges the work of our camp professionals. Their resilience and strength have rallied their camp communities—campers, counselors, families and alumni—in powerful ways.

My eyes well up just thinking about camps once again working their unique “magic.” It’s more than the simple joys of paddling a canoe or sleeping under the stars with friends. It is the unique alchemy of kehillah, of being immersed in Jewish community, that cements our religious identity and transforms our lives. It is the remedy our children need after this once-in-a-lifetime crisis: to rekindle the youthful joy of being Jewish at Jewish summer camp.

Julie Beren Platt, Board Chair of Foundation for Jewish Camp, currently serves as the National Campaign Chair of The Jewish Federations of North America. She is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and former Board Chair of Camp Ramah in California.