Local Schenectady JCC Summer camp expanding
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. >> Two local women who recall the great experiences they had at Jewish Community Center summer camps as youngsters are looking to expand that experience into Saratoga County.
Ali Doyle and Pam Hammer grew up in different parts of the country, but both have fond memories of the wonderful times they had at the Jewish Community Center camps they attended in Nebraska and on Long Island.
Now living in Saratoga Springs with young families they want to offer that same experience to their own children. They found the closest JCC summer camp to be in Niskayuna.
Undeterred by the distance, the women visited the camp last year and found it to be the comforting educational experience they remembered. Together with JCC officials, they discussed having the summer camp program expand its registration pool to Saratoga County by offering transportation.
An information meeting on the camp with JCC officials in attendance is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. March 5, at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library, 475 Moe Road, Clifton Park. An information meeting in Saratoga has been scheduled for 1 p.m. March 19 at the Saratoga Springs Public Library, 49 Henry Street.
“I grew up at the JCC summer camp,” Doyle said. “I was a camper and later a counselor. It was part of my life. The Schenectady JCC has a really great, dynamic, program. When we visited it, it all felt very familiar.”
Doyle described the small Jewish community in Omaha that numbered around 6,000 and the influence the JCC summer camp and the JCC in general had on her life. She would like that experience for her daughter.
“The Schenectady JCC has a lot of diversity among its campers and that’s good,” she said. “They have field trips, lots of activities, and educational programing and some of that programing is on Jewish culture. When I visited there was a magnetism that’s hard to describe. There was a sense of community, a sense of home. It’s something I want my kids to experience.”
Schenectady JCC Executive Director Mark Weintraub agreed the Jewish Community Center summer camps have a comforting familiarity to those who attended as youths, no matter where it was.
“Community Center camps are very popular,” he said. “There are around 180 across the county and they are well known and well established. There is always a lot of staffing so the ratio of counselors to campers is very low. There’s a lot of planning, a lot of activities, field trips, and swimming pools. They’re known for being fun and exciting.”
The camp expects to have slightly more than 300 youngsters between the ages of three and 15 enrolled in this summer’s eight week program. More than 70 staff members will facilitate.
The camp will be divided into age groups and will offer a variety of Jewish programming and camp experiences including sports, crafts, music, dance, science, nature, mitzvah days, field trips, overnights, and interaction with young emissaries from Israel. New programs for the summer include a CSI crime lab chemistry camp, mixed media arts camp with KidzArt, a challenger rookie rugby camp, and a star gazing event.
Weintraub said the Schenectady JCC has been in operation for 80 years. The summer camp program, which is not an overnight camp, opened at the Niskayuna location in 1970.
“It’s a pretty international camp,” he said. “The community really supports it. It’s based on Jewish core values but only about one third of the campers are Jewish.”
He could not recall ever being asked to have the camp extend its experience outside of Schenectady County. Having a daily bus that goes up and back to Saratoga Springs with a stop in Clifton Park will be a first.
“Typically we don’t have busing,” Weintraub said, “but Saratoga is growing and they’re [Doyle and Hammer] committed. How could we say no? I saw it as a real opportunity. We’re excited to be branching out and having folks from Saratoga taking part in our camp.”
Doyle is excited too and hoping that the Clifton Park meeting draws some interest from southern Saratoga County families looking to give their children a summer camp experience with memories that will last lifetime like her own.
“Pam and I knew what we wanted for our children. We wanted them to grow up and have a Jewish summer camp experience,” she said. “There’s a lot of education and a lot of fun that goes on there and we enjoyed that. We want to make this a staple for the region.”