When most campers age out of camp, there are usually lots of options. They can get a job and work independently, go on trips or even spend their summers relaxing and hanging out with friends. For many of Keshet’s campers, this is unfortunately not a possibility.
At Keshet we make it a priority to meet the needs of all our campers, even if it requires us to adapt and try something completely different than what we’ve done before. Thanks to generous grants and support from our partners, Keshet has launched three new camp programs for summer 2023:
1. Gesher:
Gesher at Camp Chi is a strictly recreational camp program for teens and young adults. Campers are able to choose all their specialities and cabin times, participate in all activities and enjoy everything overnight camp has to offer. We just wrapped up our first two-week session, and our campers had a blast and made lots of new friends.
2. 8th Grade Pre-Vocational Program aka Pio 8:
This summer we have eight 8th graders participating in a pre-vocational camp program at ‘Z’ Frank Apachi. Each day is a perfect blend of enjoying camp activities and practicing life skills by doing jobs around camp. Some of these tasks include: cleaning up camp, serving pizza lunch to camp groups and painting kindness rocks. What campers love most about this program is being able to gain more responsibility around camp while also getting to do the fun camp activities they know and love!
3. Avodah at Day Camp:
Four adults have spent their summer working at Apachi Northside. Two of our staff are counselors, another is part of the athletics staff and the third spends their days working in the camp office and art room. With the support of Keshet staff and their Apachi supervisors, these staff feel part of the camp community and come home each day really proud of the difference they are making.
These three programs have provided opportunities for campers to stay involved at camp while adapting to meet their individual needs and level of support. We feel so grateful to be able to offer more ways for Keshet campers to be successful in the camp setting this summer!
