Thank You Alecia! 
As Chairperson, Alecia was seen on opening days at Sprout Lake alongside the sprout lake staff, welcoming campers and greeting parents. Her tireless efforts working to build a strong and committed board for Sprout Lake has helped us forge into this next decade as a strong and growing camp. Her leadership was unwavering through crisis and triumph and her work surely left a lasting mark on Camp Young Judaea Sprout Lake.
Alecia has not only been dedicated to Sprout, but also to Young Judaea.
Alecia has a long history with Young Judaea and Hadassah. Her oldest son started Camp Judaea in 1992, the second child in 1994 and her third child, in 1997. All three children attended Tel Yehudah and participated in YJ's various Israel program. Alecia joined the CJ camp committee in 1997 and served as Region representative for 3 years, region president for 3 years, Treasurer for 3 years, Vice Chair for 3 years and Chair for 1 year before becoming National Camp Chair, a position that she has held for 4 years! Alecia has also been very involved with Hadassah, taking on several positions since 1982, including, Young Women's Outreach
Chair, National Young Leaders Advisory Chair and National Camp Chair. Alecia has been elected to the National Board twice and now serves as an appointed member of the board.
As described above, Alecia is an extremely committed volunteer to both Young Judaea and Hadassah. Her years as Young Judaea Camps Chair has helped Sprout Lake grow, not only in size, but in capital improvements.
Alecia's smile and optimism will surly be missed at Sprout Lake, but we know know she will stay involved in YJ and Sprout for years to come.
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Young Judaea Announces New Executive Director!
Hadassah and Young Judaea jointly announce Simon Klarfeld to lead the national Zionist youth movement! To read more click here!
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Sprout Lake is on the Road!
We're coming to your neighborhood!
Sprout Lake is going on the road and telling people all about camp! We will be in the following locations in the next few weeks:
December 4th, 2:00 pm
December 4th, 5:00 pm
December 5th, 7:00 pm
Scotch Plains, NJ
December 14th, 7:00 pm
Hartsdale, NY
December 19th, 7:00 pm
Plainview, NY
NYC-Coming Soon in January
If you are interested in learning more about Camp Sprout Lake, come join us and meet the Director, Helene Drobenare, or the Associate Director, Talia Horan-Block.
If you would like more information please contact our office at info@cyjsl.org or 212-451-6233.
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Hello from Year Course,
from a Sprout Lake Staff member
By: Aaron Jiji
Aaron is pictured here (left) with friends from Year Course.
These first 9 weeks of the Year Course I've taken advantage of every opportunity this historical land has to offer. During my weekends I've seen family, gone hiking and camping out multiple times, biking around the kineret, visited counselors that I worked with over the summer and even gone to an astounding music festival in the dessert. Just to top it off, the friends I bring on these trips can make any miserable instance into a spontaneous escapade. The friends I've made here are the most exquisite people I will ever meet; there is really no way to correctly give a general description of all of them. I've discovered how difficult it can be to live with seven others who have conflicting interests. I am part of a leadership program in my section where I've heard from the most knowledgeable Israel citizens, including army specialty units, youth movement educators and even Marc Regev who is Bibi Netanyahu's speaker. Did I mention I'm having the greatest time of my life? I am currently working on a volunteer project for the Arab and Israeli conflict that I'll carry out once I move from Jerusalem to Bat Yam. I have some of the best teachers who have completely expanded my knowledge of the dialect in Israel and helped me start to shape my own Jewish values. For me, Year Course is the transition into a new segment of my life, and it's been indescribable. |
Calling all Sprout Lake Alumni!
Please Save The Date For Sprout Lake's 36th Anniversary Celebration! Sunday, July 22nd at camp! Details to follow... |
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Sprout Lake and Solomon Schechter of Bergen County Selected to Partner For Prestigious Grant
We are thrilled to announce that Sprout Lake was one of only six Jewish camps nationwide chosen to pilot the Nadiv Project, an exciting new initiative that will bring a senior educator to camp during the summer who will be shared with an area day school during the year.
Sprout Lake will partner with the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County in New Milford, N.J., an innovative and outstanding K-8 school.
This groundbreaking program has several goals. The first is to experiment with a new model that is designed to further enhance the quality of education at Jewish camps in a sustainable way. The second objective is to create a new model for year-round positions for trained and talented Jewish educators, and the third is to model a new way to foster deeper collaboration between different institutions in the Jewish educational world.
Sprout Lake and Solomon Schechter of Bergen County are looking forward to this fantastic opportunity. Stay tuned for more information!
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Sprout Lake Camper is Making A Difference!
And He Needs Your Help!
After hearing the story of Kyle MacDonald and his One Red Paperclip, Max Fidler, a Sprout Lake camper was inspired by the idea of "trading up"to donate to the CYJ Sprout Lake scholarship fund!
The concept of "trading up" in this instance is to trade something that is less valuable for something of more value, and to do it many times, until gaining something that has great value. The idea then is to sell the item of great value and donate the money to a charity.
Max started with four silly bandz, each one representing a different charity or organization. The names of these organizations are: Miriam's Kitchen, Make A Wish, Special Olympics, and the CYJ Scholarship Fund.
 Max Fidler and Sam Bluestein (another CYJSL camper) make a trade.
Max chose Sprout Lake as one of his charities because he wanted to " help to provide access to Sprout Lake to those kids that want to go but need a little help to get there."
So far Max has been able to raise $8,000 for Miriams Kitchen by trading all the way up to a vacation in St. Thomas. Max auctioned off the vacation and was able to collect $8000 to donate.
Currently, Max is working on "trading up" to benefit Sprout Lake. Right now Max has an an original autographed fabric poster of George Brett available for trade. He also has two menorahs and a fancy Sedar Plate available to trade. The goal is for these items to be traded to benefit the Sprout Lake Scholarship Fund, so if you have something of greater value that you would like to exchange for one of those items, please email Max at bartermitzvah@gmail.com. (George Brett poster is below)
 Max comments, "It's for a great cause, CYJ Scholarships so don't hesitate to jump to something big!! Thanks for your support"!
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1000 Grants For New Campers!
Sprout Lake is thrilled to be able to offer $1000 grants to campers who have never had a Jewish, residential camp experience before!
Grants are available to campers who attend public school AND Jewish day school.
For more information contact the Sprout Lake office at 212-451-6233.
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Fall Camp Wrap Up!
Sprout Lake held it's annual Fall Camp, the weekend of November 4th-6th.
The theme of this year's Fall Camp was "Communities in Israel". The campers participated in various activities and learned all about Israel!
This year Fall Camp attracted over 80 campers and over 30 of them were new to Sprout Lake! Many of these campers were "testing" out Sprout Lake to see if they were interested for summer!
Saturday night the campers participated in the annual Fall Camp party with fun activities like "shave the balloon" and "throw a pie at a counselor." There was also a HUGE dance party and a showing of "WALL-E."
Sprout Lake would like to give a special thanks to Max Werman from New Jersey, and all of the Bogrim staff who played a huge role in the success of the weekend!
We can't wait to see everyone again at Spring Camp, March 23-25, 2012.
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Save the Date for Spring Camp at Sprout Lake
March 23rd-25th, 2011
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