Last week, one of our seasoned Crane Lake counselors and Cornerstone Fellows shared the following with our Donors and Board. Check out Lucy Richer’s speech!

Living 2 for 10 by Lucy Richer

Shabbat Shalom!

My name is Lucy Richer. I’m 18 years old from Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester, New York. This is my 10th summer at Crane Lake Camp, my 3rd as a counselor, and my first as a songleader.  

The reason I’ve stayed at camp for a decade is because of the people. It’s not just about the traditions or the lake or the campfire songs — it’s about the random Tuesday when we all wore space buns and suspenders. Or eight of us crammed into one bed, laughing until lights out. 

That’s where the magic is. These people became my chosen family, and now I get to pass that magic on to my campers. 

As a camper, I loved dancing at t’filah and paddleboarding at the lake. Now, as a counselor, I’ve even grown to love sports I used to avoid. I play with my campers, push them to try new things, and I get to be silly with them.   

More than anywhere else, I feel most Jewish at camp. Here, we don’t just talk about Jewish values, we live them. My favorite time of day is t’filah, where we pray not just with our voices, but with our entire bodies. Crane Lake showed me that Judaism isn’t just belief – it’s joy, it’s community, and it’s belonging.

The summer before my junior year I went on the camp trip to Israel and I fell in love.  So much so that I spent my gap year there. I even spent time with two of my former counselors, because of camp, Israel felt like home. And that’s what camp does, it brings the global Jewish community into each of our lives.

Camp has also made me a leader. As a camper you grow up looking up to the Olimers, they model kindness, pride, and responsibility. And once you’re in Olim you strive to do the same. There’s a saying in Judaism, Lador va dor, from generation to generation. At camp children and young adults learn from each other and discover who they are, how to love their Judaism, and are given the opportunity to pass it on to the next generation.

Camp gave me the confidence to lead, mentor, speak up, and be myself. And camp even taught me how to put on a fitted sheet. But seriously, the independence, the confidence, and the life skills we build here never leave us.

To our donors: thank you. Thank you for making it possible for kids like me to grow, take risks, build lifelong friendships, and embrace our Jewish identities with pride. 

We say we live “10 for 2,” but I want us to change the narrative. I say we should live “2 for 10.” During our two months at camp, our campers and staff are learning how to be leaders, navigate conflict, live and work with others, and take care of themselves. Campers use what they learn in these two months at camp and take it with them for the next ten. You are not just funding summer camp. You are building the menshes who will lead the Jewish future. 

 Thank you for being part of that.