Invest in
Camp Tawonga
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| Camp Tawonga continues to thrive and serve our community because of support from generous donors like you.
Please donate today by clicking here. For an updated list of our generous donors, please click here. |
Get Cabin Fever!
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We still have some spaces available in many of our programs and we'd love to welcome your family to camp! Whether for a Taste of Camp or three weeks of summer programming, the fun adventures of a Teen Quest, or our Teen Service Learning Trip, we'd love to help make Camp Tawonga part of your summer!
Call 415.543.2267 or email info@tawonga.org- we're happy to help!
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Stay Connected to Tawonga
All Summer
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Parents, friends and alumni wanting to see the fun of camp can check out what's going on all summer by clicking on the "Sha-Blog" tile on our home page. Or, click here. The blog is updated a few times each week - check it out!
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Alumni Updates
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Everything You Want to Know About Your Fellow Tawongans
- Miles Wise, born February 2, 2010, to proud parents Brian Wise and Jane Sperling Wise, and big brother Samuel. - Jonas Kaufman, born Monday, March 22nd to Rick and Jen Kaufman.
Please help us keep this section current and full. Send your own alumni update to Ryley Katz at ryley@tawonga.org!
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| Passover is a now a memory
and Shavuot is just several weeks away.
In Jewish tradition this is the period when the Israelites journeyed
through the dessert toward Mount Sinai, toward
the moment when we received the Torah and became the Jewish people.
In a much more modest, but still very real way, we make a
similar journey at this time each year as we prepare for the Camp season. True, we do not expect the lake at Camp to
split in two. We d o not expect to be fed
manna throughout the summer. But we do think of and prepare to welcome
campers and staff for another summer at Tawonga with a belief that our relationship with them is
in the most fundamental ways covenantal.
Camp
is where so many children gain their first and deepest sense of
independence. It is where young adults
become true leaders and role models as they place their campers' needs and
wants before their own. Camp is where so
many of us learned and continue to learn to cherish and invest in true, face to
face community in all its glory and messiness.
This is a giddy time in the annual life of Camp. We are excited to honor old traditions and
try out new ideas. We look forward to
welcoming back returning campers
and staff, and greeting new faces. We cherish
the opportunity to once again renew Camp's 85 year commitment to creating
meaningful community and supporting every camper and staff member in their
lifelong journey toward deeper self-esteem and self-reliance.
We
do all this aware that Camp Tawonga is as strong as it is because of the people
who have built it, sustain it and lo ve it as you do. Thank you for being part of the Camp Tawonga
community as we embark on yet another summer of a lifetime.
B'shalom,
Adam Weisberg, Executive Director
Mimi Gordon, Director
Jamie Simon, Camp Director
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Host an Israeli Teen this Summer!
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Cross-Cultural
Opportunity to Host Israeli Campers and Staff
This summer, though Tawonga's Noar l'Noar (Youth to Youth) program, we will again host a group of Israeli teens as campers during Session IV. Please help us welcome the teens into the camp community by hosting two or
more of them for three days between when they arrive in San Francisco and when
they return from camp. Hosts from past years say
this is one of their most memorable Camp Tawonga experiences and a powerful connection to Israel and its people.
While
in the Bay Area before camp, the teens and the three Israeli staff accompanying them will spend
most of their time doing activities with Tawonga staff. As hosts, we ask that you meet the teens at
SFO when they arrive Thursday, July 29 and host them as overnight guests until
they depart for camp on Sunday, August 1.
On Friday and Saturday there will be organized programs for the teens
during the day starting and ending at Camp Tawonga's downtown SF office.
The teens also need to be hosted after their time at camp before returning to Israel. This includes picking up the campers from the location of your choice (Oakland at 2:30pm or San Francisco at 4pm) on Friday, August 20th. They will spend the weekend with your family, including a Tawonga BBQ on Saturday, before you bring them to the San Francisco airport on Sunday, August 22nd.
You can host teens over either (or both) weekend(s)!
Hosting
dates: Thursday, July 29 - Sunday morning, August 1
Hosting dates: Friday, August 20 - Sunday, August 22
Please
rsvp or direct any questions to Teen Program Coordinator Aaron Mandel at aaron@tawonga.org or at 415-543-2267 x102.
Thank you for your generous consideration.
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What's cooking?
The NEW Camp Tawonga Kitchen |
As Camp
Tawonga celebrates its 85th
birthday, one gift it  hopes to unwrap is a brand new kitchen. In 1961 Tawonga moved to its current location
in the Stanislaus National Forest, just outside Yosemite National Park. The current kitchen, which was designed to serve 200 diners per meal, was built in the 1950s, an era when
even the parents of most of today's campers hadn't been born. Today, the kitchen serves 400 campers
and staff three meals a day in an out-dated and under-sized facility.
Goals for the new kitchen include: - New, energy and water efficient appliances.
- Separation of cooking and cleaning areas to allow greater efficiency and sanitation.
- Facilities enabling staff to make more food from scratch, rather than purchasing prepared and/or processed foods, thus allowing for tastier, more nutritious meals and reducing cost.
- The ability to more easily serve hot meals to as many as 500-600 diners at one seating.
- Greater flexibility in serving special meals, including outdoor preparation.
- Facilities allowing for greater camper programming and participation in meal preparation so kids learn what it takes to get food from the garden to their plates.
Camp
Tawonga's board and staff
leadership is engaged in all the steps needed to bring the project to
completion, from project planning to fundraising. They expect the new kitchen to be a birthday
present that has kids and staff smiling for years to come.
Despite the current
challenging economic climate, Tawonga's leadership has already raised $475,000 for
the project, just over half the projected cost. YOU can help make this project happen! For more information or to make a contribution to the Camp Tawonga kitchen, please contact Executive Director Adam Weisberg at 415.543.2267, or email adam@tawonga.org. |
Ride Your Bike with Camp Tawonga
| Camp Tawonga is partnering with Hazon, the
largest environmental organization in the North American Jewish community, for
the 1st Annual Hazon CA Bike Ride on May 7th-10th. This is a lot like a typical Camp Tawonga family camp, but the
second 2 days are a fun way to get in shape, get involved and support Tawonga
and Hazon in making the Jewish community healthier and greener by biking to
SF!
Tawonga
has started its own team and we
want alumni from all years to come together to have a great weekend together
and help raise the funds for Tawonga's new composting system. You can
join as a Rider (starting at 30 mile routes) or a Crew member (driving, serving food
& water to riders) as a part of Team Tawonga.
The weekend includes: - Transportation
from and to downtown SF (if you don't drive)
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All Meals
(local and organic whenever possible)
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Shabbat
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Inspiring
Programs (yoga, learning sessions, hiking, pool swimming, DIY workshops)
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Full Road
Support (including bike mechanics, tire changing, van "booster" rides, medical
assistance, food and drinks, beer and brownies!)
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Visit the
Weekend at a Glance page for details
Spring is when the Earth starts to
wake up and so should we! Let's get
together, get in shape, and make Tawonga and the whole Jewish community a
greener place! Get your friends to join
with us, because if our team grows to more than 5 riders, Tawonga will receive
a second grant from the Hazon CA Ride to support its composting program. Let's make it happen together! Sign up today!
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Community Happenings
| BBYO Middle School Dance
Join BBYO's Teen Connection and
the San Francisco JCC's Club 18 for an amazing dance with a live DJ and prizes!
When: May
22nd
Where: the SF JCC
3200 California Street, SF
Time:
7-10:00pm
Cost: $15 SF JCC members
$20 non-members
Check
out the website and sign up here!
We're providing transportation
for no extra cost:
Beth David, 19700 Prospect Road, Saratoga
Pick Up: 5:30pm
Drop Off: 11:30pm
PJCC, 800 Foster City Blvd,
Foster City
Pick Up: 6:15pm
Drop Off: 10:45pm
Spots on
the bus are first come, first serve!
Looking for transportation from
the East Bay? Just let lmorse@bbyo.org know!
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Camp Kee Tov, voted the best Jewish day camp
in the East
Bay the last two
years, still has openings for the 2010 summer! Located in North Berkeley, Camp Kee Tov continues its tradition of
over 40 years of excellence in
day-camping. Camp Kee Tov offers programs for campers entering Kindergarten through 9th
grade and has a dynamic staff that brings the summer to life! Many
Camp Kee Tov campers spend the other portion of their summers at Camp Tawonga!
Camp dates for
2010:
Session
1: June 28 - July 23
Session 2: August 2 - August
27
For more information, check out our new website here. For registration info, please click here.
We hope to see you
at Camp Kee Tov in 2010 for a summer filled with fun, friends and ruach!
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