Session 1 – Day 9: Dew or Shine
It never rains at Herzl Camp, it only heavy dews. And it’s been heavy dewing all day long.
But it’s camp! We know we can’t control the weather, but we can present a good attitude, some creative fun and we’re lucky to have such a facility that has plenty of space to do things that keep us dew-less.
Tochnit Boker (morning program) was really fun this morning! Our Chinuch (education team) used it to teach song session songs, because someone once told me that the best way to get Jewish kids to love being Jewish is get them singing Jewish songs with other Jewish kids. These first time and many first session campers need to get to know these songs that we sing either at a song session, in a service, or at many random points throughout the day… whenever they present themselves, it’s part of the Herzl experience and we want them going home knowing that they have the secret codes to the Herzl magic and one of those codes is Jewish song.
Due to the dew… our indoor facilities were bustling during chugim. The Beit Ruach had basketball going on on one court and some short field Ultimate (frisbee), a Herzl staple, on the other court. The dance studio was in full use with dance and my watch gave me loud noise warnings multiple times. We’re lucky to have such a great facility!
But I think the biggest winner today was those campers in Amanut (arts and crafts). It was so busy over there. We almost had to employ bouncers to keep the lines down to a minimum. Our new Amanut director is doing a terrific job finding new and unique projects, bringing back some old lost projects, and has an extra special touch in finding what may be important to a camper and giving them the resources to do that. Her name is Amy and she rules!
Our Habonim campers, the oldest group here on camp right now, got to sneak away up to an indoor waterpark up in Duluth (just about an hour away). So the rainy day, I’m sorry, the dewey day didn’t bother them a bit.
Afternoon chugim were a repeat of this morning. We train our staff for days like today, we run through scenarios, we plan it out and play it out and when those days hit or staff executes without a glitch, quite literally. Danya and I get real proud of this team and this crew, it’s a hard day when you can’t use the outside up here at summer camp, but our staff deliver the magic…Dew or shine.
All is well, safely rest.
Thanks for sending your kid to Herzl Camp
לילה טוב
Tommy