Camp Ramah in California draws on good old camp activities – sports, music, swimming, arts, outdoor adventure - to create an experience that is safe, fun and Jewishly transformative.  Each season we offer campers a program grounded in activities they look forward to summer after summer, but enhanced by a variety of program initiatives designed keep the Ramah experience fresh and innovative.  Program initiatives are determined based on the extensive feedback we collect from our major stakeholders, such as campers, their parents and our staff, along with our research on best practices in the field.  We then rely on the generosity of our community supporters to “adopt-a-program” and turn these ideas from dream to reality.

Below are some of the ideas in store for the 2012 summer.  Click here to download more information on all these projects, or contact Ilana Ormond, Director of Development, by e-mail or at (310) 476-8571.

Name that Peulah!

We’re planning to kick off a new peulah (daily activity) this summer to keep our camp program fresh, and have decided to ask our biggest stakeholders—our campers—to cast their votes as to which program to start.

A gift of $5,000 will secure necessary resources in leadership, program design and materials to allow us to kick off and run a new program activity for the 2011 summer.

Organic Garden

Help us plant an organic garden!  Campers will have an awesome time while learning the importance of environmental consciousness; issues of social justice and the interrelatedness of all beings; cooperative skills and the compassion necessary for serving one’s community; skills in gardening, nutrition and more…

Several components are needed for this exciting project, including initial landscaping, supplies, leadership and curriculum.  Gifts totaling $12,000 will provide the seed money to start an organic garden for the 2011 summer.

Specialty Clinics

Each summer, Camp Ramah in California enhances the summer experience offered to campers by hosting a rotation of expert instructors, each of whom is highly accomplished in their specialty area.  The introduction to instructors who bring high-level experience in their field creates a very special level of excitement and inspiration as we keep our program fresh and cutting edge. 

Gifts totaling $20,000 are needed to bring a wide range of experts to camp for the 2011 summer. 

Strengthening and Enhancing Ramah’s Music Program

Music is an extraordinary means of expression and a critical element of the Ramah program and community since the camp began.  Through song voices unite in spirit, spirituality, praise and joy.  There are many ways that Jewish music is incorporated into the summer experience.  Specific initiatives we would like to pursue include:

• Shira Boot Camp, sending members of our music staff to an intensive training program that will help to enhance the quality of our daily shira (singing) program.

A gift of $2,000 will enable us to enroll our staff members in a boot camp program.

• Summer Concerts featuring popular Jewish performing artists.  Concerts bring our camp community together, provide a great opportunity for ruach (positive spirit) and instill in campers a love of modern Jewish music.  As a result, some audience members grow into the next generation of Jewish musicians. 

A gift of $7,500 will allow us to offer ruach-filled camp concerts.

• The Live From…the Givah CD Project engages campers and staff who demonstrate a strong inclination towards musical expression. Young artists have the opportunity to learn Jewish and/or Israeli music, grow their skills as musicians or vocalists and contribute to the strength of our community by sharing their talent with others. Everyone in the Ramah community benefits from the CD itself, which contains melodies for liturgy and Shabbat meals used across the world in Conservative settings, along with Israeli rock songs. Taking the CD home with them engages our campers and staff as Jewish leaders beyond the summer and into college and the families they will build as adults.

To continue the impact of the Live from … the Givah project for the next three years requires a total of $45,000 in funding.  Families committed to the project can help sponsor it with annual contributions at $5,000 as Producers; $2,500 as Engineers; or $1,000 as Fans.  Click here to learn more.

Staff Program Resource Center

Ramah staff are charged to design programs that are fun, engaging, and reflective of cutting-edge practices in experiential Jewish education. But both resources and physical space for ‘thinking outside of the box’ are currently scarce and limit the ability of our staff from reaching their full creative potential.  For the 2011 summer we’d like to enhance the Friedman Library, to also function as a Staff Program Resource Center featuring the technology and professional supported needed for program development.

Gifts totaling $10,000 will allow us to expand and enhance our Staff Program Resource Center.

Ruach Mitzvah—Bringing to Life Jewish Ritual and Observance

This initiative addresses the importance of year-round Jewish practice through the artistic exploration and creation of Jewish ritual objects used throughout the year. The program centers on the work of Israeli artist Noah Greenberg and brings campers closer to ritual observance by introducing them to the beauty of the objects used to celebrate Judaism. Noah serves as an artist-in-residence for five days, running the Kesher Tefillin Project, which engages rising 8^th graders in a tefillin making workshop!  Two other projects Noah can facilitate are the Tree of Life Shtender or Development of a Work of Art: Living Through the Creative Process.

Gifts totaling $13,000 will allow Camp Ramah in California to bring Noah Greenberg from Israel for five days, during which he will run Kesher Tefillin and one additional project.  Click here to learn more.