Coming Together As One

When you’re a counselor working with campers who have disabilities, you’re always on the lookout for new ways and activities to help engage the campers under your charge. There is no better way to pick up these new tips and tricks than to spend time exchanging information and experiences with other counselors who work with the same population. This is precisely what I did during the last week of May at the National Ramah Spring Leadership Training Conference at Ramah Darom in Clayton, Georgia. I spent the week collaborating with and learning from counselors from other camps all over the country who also work with campers with disabilities.

Collaboration Is the Key: URJ and Ramah Working Together to Help Campers with Disabilities

For the past five summers, I have had the honor of working for the Mitzvah Corps program at URJ Kutz Camp. Mitzvah Corps is a special needs camping program for teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The program’s mission is to honor the unique characteristics of every camper and provide access to Jewish camping by creating individualized accommodations and modifications that allow every camper to succeed. So when my camp and I heard that National Ramah invited the URJ Camps to their Spring Leadership Training Conference training at Ramah Darom, we saw it as a great opportunity to collaborate with a different camp movement whose mission closely aligned with our own.

An amazing four days with colleagues in special needs camping

At last week’s National Ramah Spring Leadership Training Conference, staff members from special needs programs at Ramah camps, Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) camps, and other Jewish camps joined together to share best practices and learn from one another. Although this is the fourth year of Ramah’s training program for staff from throughout the Ramah network of Tikvah and other special needs programs, this was the first time that staff members from different movements who work with children with disabilities have had the opportunity to participate in professional development training together.

Inspiration at Joint Ramah-URJ Fellowship Training

As I returned back to the University of Pittsburgh’s frigid campus just a few weeks ago, I couldn’t stop wishing I had never left the warmth of California and the incredible community I had shared my Shabbat with at Camp Ramah in California. As a Ramah Service Corps Fellow, I spend my time working at Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh promoting Camp Ramah in Canada and helping to bring the success of informal Jewish education experienced over the summer at Camp Ramah back to the community.

Blog/Reflections, Staff Leadership TrainingNRC WebmasterJanuary 22, 2014Nyack, URJ, National Ramah

Reform and Conservative Camping Movements’ Service Corps Will Engage Synagogue Youth Year Round

The camping movements of the Union for Reform Judaism and the National Ramah Commission of The Jewish Theological Seminary have announced a joint initiative to develop a year-round Service Corps program for camp staff alumni. Participants in the Service Corps will apply their experience, talents and skills to create camp-style programming for North American synagogue youth, and to recruit more children to attend camp.

Ramah in the NewsNRC WebmasterJuly 11, 2013National Ramah, Ramah Service Corps, URJ

Outstanding training week at Ramah Darom (Part 2)

As I wrote yesterday, there has been incredible energy and inspiration here at Ramah Darom during this week of multiple National Ramah staff training programs, including our newest program, Kivun, which this year includes about 12 representatives from our colleagues at URJ camps.

Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterMay 23, 2012National Ramah, Mitch Cohen, URJ, Darom