Dear Crane Lake Families,
This week has been a blast. With trip days, the play, a Tikkun Olam trip and fair, half marathon and Olim ’13 visiting day, there wasn’t any time for a dull moment.
While the end of summer is creeping up on us, we are so thankful to have one more week in the Crane Lake bubble filled with action-packed, colorful Maccabia fun.
Trip day was enjoyable for all. Nitzanim went to Lake Compounce to ride roller coasters and get soaked in some water park splashes. Bonim had fun on the big rides at 6 Flags and got some sweet snacks for the road. Lower Chaverim zipped through the trees on the Zoar Outdoor zip line and upper Chaverim got doused in rapids on their white water rafting tour. Olim had a day of relaxation on the beach of Lake George and ended the night on a sunset dinner cruise.
The CLC camp play this session was called A Twisted Fairy Tale. Our drama director, Brick, put his own CLC spin on the tale to add lots of personal Crane Lake jokes that had everyone laughing all night long. A video of the play will be posted shortly so stay tuned!
Our Jewish value this week was Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. Campers and staff took part in a Tikkun Olam trip to a local farm that donates its produce to the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. Upper Bonim also hosted a Tikkun Olam fair on camp to raise awareness of different philanthropic organizations and asked campers to donate left over trip money to their favorite charity. We are so proud that together we raised over $1000 to donate to various organizations.
On Saturday morning staff had the chance to participate in our annual half marathon with Eisner. Around 40 CLC staff members ran, biked and scooted 13.1 miles from Crane Lake to Eisner. They all did a fantastic job and were all still able to walk the next day.
After the half marathon we had our own Crane Lake Camp walk-a-thon and asked campers and staff to walk for a cause. Everyone wore stickers on their shirts to show their support for many different organizations. Many Crane Lakers walked in support of Ethan Kadish to raise awareness and money for Team Ethan to help with his recovery. To learn more about ways to support Team Ethan, visit the website here.
We welcomed home Olim ’13 to the bubble on Saturday morning to enjoy Shabbat services with our community. It was so nice to have them back on camp sharing memories of their Israel trip this summer.
At services we had a special guest, Marc Solomon, the national campaign director for Freedom to Marry. Marc came to speak about his Tikkun Olam mission for everyone to have the right to marry. He spoke about his personal experiences and encouraged campers and staff to get involved and speak up for what they believe in. More about Marc’s initiatives can be seen here.
Campers had the unique opportunity to visit Tanglewood on Saturday night to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform. Crane Lake had so many highlights this week but most excitingly of all, it’s MACCABIA!! More updates are on the way daily so stay connected with CLC on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and of course, our blog!
With Love,
Debby, Max and Sarah