Camp Ramah in Northern California to Open Summer 2016

July 16, 2015 / 29 Tammuz 5775

We are thrilled to announce that after many years of hard work and planning, Camp Ramah in Northern California (NorCal) will officially open in summer 2016 on the beautiful campus of the Monterey Bay Academy on the shores of the Pacific Ocean!

The Camp Ramah in Northern California Board of Directors, in partnership with the National Ramah Commission, and with the support of Camp Ramah in California (Ojai), has entered into an agreement with the Monterey Bay Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school on the beautiful Pacific shoreline, to begin operations next summer on their 380-acre campus. Campus facilities include a pool, gym, theater, sports fields, and much more. While the camp will offer a full range of activities and sports, it will allow campers to specialize in one of three areas: performing arts, outdoor adventure, or marine biology, all with the inspiring traditional values that have been the hallmark of Ramah camps for close to 70 years.

The NorCal board has already secured close to 50% of the startup funding, approximately $1.1 million, and is actively fundraising to reach its goal of $2.5 million to ensure the camp’s long-term success. An important objective is to provide substantial scholarship dollars to help make camp affordable for all interested families.

Sarah Shulman, the recently appointed NorCal Director, will be ordained as a Conservative rabbi from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies next May, and will move to the Bay Area at that time. Sarah is an extraordinary leader, having played a key role in developing Ramah Outdoor Adventure in the Colorado Rockies over the last six years. She is also an accomplished athlete who has competed in numerous Ironman triathlete competitions. A graduate of Stanford University, Sarah believes that “Ramah NorCal will transform youth through inspirational camp programming and invigorate the Northern California Jewish community and its future leaders. Our goals include keeping our campers very active with exciting challenges, while they gain new skills and a deeper sense of Jewish pride.”

Ramah NorCal is supported by a generous grant for camp consulting from The AVI CHAI Foundation as part of the new camps accelerator program of the Foundation for Jewish Camp. It is also receiving mentoring support from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies.

Sarah and a small team of pioneering staff members, including Ramah NorCal Project Coordinator Daniele Hurwitz, just spent three days on site planning the program for next summer. Registration information will be available when the new camp website launches in August. You can also follow Camp Ramah in Northern California on Facebook to get updates about our exciting journey to the first summer.