Ilana & Mark Meskin - Camp Ramah

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PAGE 2 Letter from the Board Chair Dear Camp Ramah Family, Let me begin with “thank you” – thank you to the many, many volunteers who have given of their time this year to Camp Ramah, thank you to the many, many contributors who have given of their financial resources to Camp Ramah, and thank you to the visionaries who made significant gifts to our Camp that have long-term impact and bring us closer to the goals articulated in our 50th anniversary plan. Allow me to highlight a few of our most significant donors this year. The Stone Family Foundation enabled us to build the new Ezra dorm that will not only meaningfully enhance the Ezra Program for special needs young adults, but will also enhance Camp Ramah’s ability to hire and house more specialty staff for the summer. The Jewish Community Foundation’s Cutting Edge grant will fund Camp Ohr Lanu, a week-long camping experience for 20 to 30 families with special needs children. The Leibovic family and their many friends have provided the funds for a splendid new swimming pool with two waterslides and a myriad of new programming possibilities. The Lowy family, an anonymous San Diego family, the Los Angeles Jewish Federation and the Foundation for Jewish Camping all provided us with campership incentives that helped 200 campers experience the magic of a four-week session at Camp Ramah for the very first time. We must together dedicate ourselves to raising more scholarship dollars so that the recipients of the initial incentiveships will be able to return every year with the financial support they need. Jewish camping is where it’s at and we are spending every day finding new ways to bring kids to camp and then to keep them, ever improving the experience and ever improving its affordability. Please join me in this effort with your time and your resources. And join me in December when we honor two wonderful leaders and role models, Ilana and Mark Meskin. See you at Yom Kehillah (Visitor’s Day) on August 3rd! B’Shalom, Julie Platt 2007 Revenue
2007 Expenses Dear Community of Camp Ramah in California, During daily prayers when the Amidah is repeated, the leader fulfills our obligation to pray when, after each of his/her blessings, we respond “Amen.” This works in every case except one: the 18th blessing for gratitude. Why? Because, the rabbis teach, being grateful is not something someone can do for us. It is something we must do for ourselves. What I can do, however, is try to tell you how grateful thousands of Jewish children are for your love and generosity and support of Ramah. As I prepare to begin my 7th summer as the Director of Camp Ramah in California, I look forward to climbing onto the buses and greeting kids from Los Angeles and San Diego, from Phoenix and Northern California, from all over the Western Region of the United States. I look forward to hearing them scream with joy that their summer at Ramah is about to begin! I feel blessed that last summer, 51 years after we opened our doors for the first time, I got to see the smiles and hear the laughter of 1,352 campers who fell in love with Judaism and Israel because you helped to build a magical place in the Ojai Valley called Camp Ramah in California. I cannot directly express gratitude for those children, but I can tell you, from their smiling faces and the songs they sang that rang out across the hills, that they are indeed grateful for your love and support. As we look towards the future, never believe that Camp Ramah in California is just a summer camp. This summer, we will send the largest group in our history – 106 graduates – for a summer in Israel on our sister program, Ramah Israel Seminar. Our counselors form the core of Jewish leadership at Hillels across the country, doing Israel advocacy on campus and populating lively and inspiring minyanim. A few weeks ago, I met two of our alumni in Washington DC working as legislative aids for members of Congress. Others are working on this year’s political campaigns. Still others are working at AIPAC. Ramah campers and staff are nothing less than the future leaders of the American Jewish community and, in helping Ramah, you are making a contribution that will last for generations to come. For your generosity and support, I am grateful. But much more importantly, the children are grateful. Come to camp some time and they will tell you for themselves. B’virkat Shalom, Rabbi Daniel Greyber Letter from the Executive Director PAGE 3
Page 1 and 2: Camp Ramah in California vhbruphkec
Page 3: Our Mission Camp Ramah in Californi
Page 7 and 8: Albert Observatory in memory of Dav
Page 9 and 10: Dear Camp Ramah in California Commu
Page 11 and 12: ages four to fourteen, along with t
Page 13 and 14: Expanded Ropes Course to Enhance Te
Page 15 and 16: Deborah Kattler Kupetz and David Ku
Page 17 and 18: Marie Ellen Mazzone and David Israe
Page 19 and 20: ROPES COURSE continued from page 11

Ilana & Mark Meskin - Camp Ramah

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