Parksville, NY
This Friday, campers from the NOD (Number One Division) gathered in the grand dining room for a special activity. Using dough made by our very own Rabbi Shloime Futerfas, the campers learned to braid and bake challah.
Everybody had a lot of fun and had fresh hot challos by the Friday night meal!
On Thursday, campers watched with glee as the waiters hauled the dining room tables in to the square. As the Extra-Curricular-Activity-Directors fired up the grills, campers took their seats and licked their lips in anticipation for the first BBQ night of Gan Yisrael 5772!
We started off the night with an amazing line-up and Mincha after which we headed off to the Grand BBQ.
What better way to start the summer than with a huge BBQ with all the trimmings!
The atmosphere was uplifting with the campers and staff singing various niggunim and songs together.
Everybody had a great time, and we can’t wait to do it again!
By Yehuda “No ‘H'” Fenton
It’s 9:25 pm, and the Bochurim of B.M.D. are winding down. After the first hectic day of camp everyone is ready to go to sleep. The loud speaker keeps the bochurim informed as to how long they have until lights out, the counselors get ready for bed, and it is unanimously decided that it is highly unlikely that all 65 campers can take a shower within five minutes.
Suddenly a voice can be heard over the loudspeaker, testifying to the fact that we have all had an amazing first day. And to end off the amazing day, Head Counselors Shimon Gorkin and Shmulik Moskowitz say, there will be…wait for it…BOWLING!!!!
Everyone’s out of bed! Sweatshirts are grabbed, flashlights pulled out, shoes jammed on, and we’re off to the buses! We get to the bowling alley ready for the amazing night that is to come!
Every Bochur chooses the ball of his choice and the games begin! Sixteen lanes, 96 bowlers and one awesome time! Strikes, spares, and the occasional gutter ball punctuate the evening. One camper even beat the odds by winning an iPod at the arcade game!
(Editor. The highest score is still a matter of great contention and can only be truly resolved once tapes of the night are examined.)
It was an incredible night and a truly wonderful beginning to camp at Machneh Gan Yisroel B.M.D.!
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.”
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!