Month: June 2012 – י׳ בתמוז ה׳תשע״ב

Staff members of Camp Gan Israel of Parksville and Camp L’man Achai had an actual ball during a training session.

By COLlive reporter

Where is the best place for staff training? In camp!

With the latest push by staff members on taking the summer seriously, two Lubavitch overnight camps invited life and leadership coach Rabbi Shmuly Rothman to their Upstate New York grounds.

Camp Gan Israel in Parksville and Camp L’man Achai hosted Rothman for intense staff training on their camp grounds, ahead of the campers’ arrival.

“This is a huge step in the right direction for our overnight camps,” Rothman told COLlive.com. “In traditional secular overnight camps, staff spend a week to 10 days on camp grounds training for their positions.”

On Monday, June 25, a full day program took place in Parksville, the first overnight Chabad boys camp, and participants quickly learned that serious business can be fun too.

The training program began with an 8-foot colorful beach ball. Staff members were told lie in two rows and pass the ball from the beginning to the end of the line. Within seconds all the staff were interacting, laughing, having fun and supporting each other.

Rothman then moved on to discussing important topics such as “nurturing unzere kinder,” personal goal setting and internal inspiration to be a good counselor all day and every day, the skills and tools for viewing each and every camper as Hashem’s only child and positive discipline and “friend-raising.”

“Having Shmuly on camp grounds while the counselors were settling in made all the difference,” said Rabbi Nachman Dov Vichnin, senior Head Counselor at CGI Parksville who arranged for the program. “Staff had ample time to ask their specific questions, and get the support they needed. It was total ‘tachlis.'”

The many hours of training were interspersed with brain teasers, ice breakers, games and initiatives that put staff up close and interacting with each other.

Rothman, a resident of Pittsburgh, spent the next day at Camp L’man Achai, an overnight camp for Jewish boys ages 8-16, located in the town of Andes in Delaware County, NY.

As a camp geared for boys from homes that are not observant, Rothman spoke about sensitivity to campers coming from broken homes and who have suffered the loss of a loved one.

And in addition to topics raised in Parksville, he discussed healthy communication and relationships between staff, head staff and campers and how to set needed boundaries between staff and campers.

“The staff really appreciated it,” said Rabbi Yitzchok Steinmetz, director of Camp L’man Achai. “I’ve heard only great feedback and I’m sure it will make a huge difference.”

Staff were heard commenting, “The games were great! I got to meet fellow staff in a fun way! I never knew so many of the counselors by name so early on.”

To get the most out of the time allotted, counselors from both camps viewed Shmuly’s newly released staff training DVD on the bus ride up to camp.

The payoff was huge says Rothman, “By the time I got started, the counselors had a very good primer and were actually quoting the DVD training throughout the day.”

HEAD COUNSELOR	Nachman D. Wichnin
HEAD COUNSELOR	Levi Shemtov
HEAD COUNSELOR	Avremi Wolff
HEAD COUNSELOR	Nochum Schapiro
LEARNING DIRECTOR	Shazi Perman
LEARNING DIRECTOR	Menachem Altein
BMD DIRECTOR	Shmulik Moscowitz
BMD DIRECTOR	Shimon Gorkin
HEAD WAITER	Shmuly Schapiro
HEAD WAITER	Levi Weingarten
NOD HEAD	Ari Raskin
ECAD	Eli Lipskar
Asst ECAD	Mendel Avtzon
BMD ECAD/Asst ECAD 2	Elozor Glick
HEAD LIFE GUARD	Levi Pekar
EMT	Mendy Veil
EMT	Shmuel Dovid Sandhaus
EMT	Yitzi Shubov
GM	Berel Lison
GM	Dovi Emmanuel – N
Asst GM	Shmulik Shuchat
VAN DRIVER	Chesky Weiss – N
VAN DRIVER	BY Gancz – N
YOUTH CORE	Mayer Gurkov – L
OFFICE MANAGER	Yisroel Cohen – L
ASST OFF. MNGR/SPORTS	Mendy Gitter – N
CANTEEN MANAGER	Shmaya Futerfas
1COUNSELOR	Mendel Bergstien – N
2COUNSELOR	Leibel Bendet – N
3COUNSELOR	Baruch Feldman – N
4COUNSELOR	Mendy Harlig – N
5COUNSELOR	Hershey Weinstein – L
6COUNSELOR	Mendel Barber – L
7COUNSELOR	Mendy Lebovic – L
8COUNSELOR	Sholom Tauber – L
9COUNSELOR	Mendy Zakon – L
10COUNSELOR	Yisroel Edery – L
11COUNSELOR	Levi Shteimits – N
12COUNSELOR	Mendel Lerer – N
13COUNSELOR	Moshe Denburg – N
14COUNSELOR	Shmuly Evens – N
15COUNSELOR	Moshe Kalmenson – L
16COUNSELOR	Mendy Heber – L
17COUNSELOR	Yoseph Epstien – N
18COUNSELOR	Yudi Meltzer – N
19COUNSELOR	Mendy Kapaluchnik – N
20COUNSELOR	Chaim Samuels – N
21COUNSELOR	Ezra Wiemer – N
22COUNSELOR	Mendel Galperin – N
24COUNSELOR	Sholom Domnitz
25COUNSELOR	Moshe Lipsker – L
26COUNSELOR	Dovi Berkowitz – L
27COUNSELOR	sholom brook – L
28COUNSELOR	shmuel levin – L
29COUNSELOR	Zevi Rosenblum – L
30COUNSELOR	Yisrolik Mochkin – L
31COUNSELOR	Yoisef Bogomilsky – S
32COUNSELOR	Mendy Kirshenberg – S
33COUNSELOR	Mendel Zunts – N
34COUNSELOR	Mendel Treitel – N
35COUNSELOR	Shneur Polter – A
36COUNSELOR	Yaakov Gurkov – N
37COUNSELOR	Nachi Smetana – ND
38COUNSELOR	Menachem Elgarten – N
39COUNSELOR	Mendy Minsky – N
40COUNSELOR	Berel Kesselman – L
41COUNSELOR	Koppel Silberberg – L
42COUNSELOR	Mendel Raskin – N
1LEARNING TEACHER	Mendy Yarmove – S
2LEARNING TEACHER	Yitzchok Zirkind – S
3LEARNING TEACHER	Michoel Saul – S
4LEARNING TEACHER	yossi zerkind – S
5LEARNING TEACHER	Yehuda Raiport – S
6LEARNING TEACHER	Yossi feldman – S
7LEARNING TEACHER	Mendy Rubenshtein – S
8LEARNING TEACHER	Moshi Levinson – S
9LEARNING TEACHER	Yosef Y. Mapur – S
10LEARNING TEACHER	aharon shpilman – S
11LEARNING TEACHER	Mend Markowitz – S
12LEARNING TEACHER	Moshe Kroll – S
13LEARNING TEACHER	Avrohom Waren – S
14LEARNING TEACHER	Chaim Shneur- S
15LEARNING TEACHER	Shneur Vogel – S
16LEARNING TEACHER	Levi Godlfarb- S
17LEARNING TEACHER	Tzemach Simon – S
18LEARNING TEACHER	Mendel Vogel – S
19LEARNING TEACHER	Mendy Tzippel – S
20LEARNING TEACHER	Binyomen Warmflash – S
21LEARNING TEACHER	Menachem Lazerof – A
22LEARNING TEACHER	Aron Bergman – S
23LEARNING TEACHER	Leibel Chazanovitch – S
24LEARNING TEACHER	Zevi Shusterman – S
25LEARNING TEACHER	Tany Krasniansky – S
26LEARNING TEACHER	Boruch Tzfasman – S
27LEARNING TEACHER	Mendel Katz
38LEARNING TEACHER	Baruch Steinmetz 1st month – L
Tutor	Sruli Freedman
Tutor	Mendel Kugel – N
Tutor	Moshe Banda – S
CANTEEN ASST	Meir Ciment
CANTEEN ASST	Mendel Jacobson – L
CANTEEN ASST	Mendel Wienstien – N
CANTEEN ASST	Meyer Newman
CANTEEN ASST/BOOKIE	Levi Fogelmen
N.A.D./ MBP	Mendel Blesofsky
ASST N.A.D./Shadow	Eli Israel
MBP Asst	Sholom Sheingarten – L
SPORTS DIRECTOR	Eli Lobenstein
ASST SPORT DIRECTOR	Levi Rosenfeld – N
COMPUTER ROOM	Avrohom Mishulovin – L
O.D.	Meir Gershovitz
KITCHEN STAFF	Mendy Levitan
KITCHEN STAFF	Dovid Deray
KITCHEN STAFF	Boruch Wilansky
KITCHEN STAFF	Efriam Shpindler
KITCHEN STAFF	Yitzi Chriqui
KITCHEN STAFF	Mendel Sobel
Arts and Crafts	Shmulik Stell
Arts and Crafts	Leizer Introlegator
LG	Levi Goldfarb LP
LG	Tzemach Simon LP
LG	Mendel Harlig – LP
LG	Mendel Neuwirth – LP
LG	Mendel Gitler
LG	Mendy Spalter
LG	Mendy Edelmen
Survival	Yosef Shmuel Serebryanski
HC/LD asst.	Menachem Wolfe – L
Ice Cream/Seforim	Menachem Eber
Video	Mendel Soufer – L
Truck Driver	Zalmy Neparstek
BMD COUNSELOR	Avi Welis
BMD COUNSELOR	Shmuli Rapp
BMD COUNSELOR	Choni Cohen
BMD COUNSELOR	Menachem Lifshitz
BMD COUNSELOR	Reuvein Duray
BMD COUNSELOR	Nisanel Borenstien
1BMD LT	Yehuda Fenton
2BMD LT	Mendel Mitz
3BMD LT	Mendy Ross
4BMD LT	Michoel Fishman
5BMD LT	Dovie Gopin
6BMD LT	Zevi Haler
WAITER	Yosef Yitzchok Brook
WAITER	Mendel Chein
WAITER	Jacob Delukovitz
WAITER	Dovid Feigenson
WAITER	Chaim Feldman
WAITER	Shimmy Russell
WAITER	Yisroel Malamud
WAITER	Yaakov Yisroel Raskin
WAITER	Mendel Rimler
WAITER	Eli Barber
WAITER	Moshe Wilhelm
WAITER	Noach Zeiler
WAITER	Mendel Litzman
WAITER	Yehuda Gorkin
COUNSELORS
Edry	Yisroel
Feldman	Baruch

It was an exciting day when the buses pulled in to Gan Yisrael, carrying hundreds of excited campers. Others had already been brought by their parents, but one and all, they were thrilled for another amazing summer at Machane Gan Yisrael!

As things settled down, all the campers made their way into the Shul for speeches. The Head Counselors spoke about how exciting camp will be this year, and how much learning and fun will take place here. Then, the campers were split into their bunks, and were joined by their counselors, who came – some yelling happily, some running and screaming – to the front of the Shul to lead their bunks to their bunkhouses.

The first full day of camp was Wednesday, and it was back to the Shul for the Learning Directors speech about the excellent learning program this year. Then, campers were split (again) into their learning classes and it was off to the first learning class of the summer!

Wednesday was also the first day of activities, with campers playing basketball, kickball, hockey, football and much more. There was a speech from the Head Lifeguard on safety, after which there was also swimming!

All in all, an exciting start to an exciting summer!

Camp Gan Israel of Parksville, NY set off this morning for the first month of summer up in the Catskill Mountains.