For summer 5772 – 2012, Gan Yisroel Day and Overnight camp staff will be able to join 3 support TeleConference calls hosted by Shmuly Rothman.
Rothman says he was privileged to have been a talmid of Rabbi Yeshaya Schtroks obm, who passed away a week ago, and benefitted from his love and devotion to his Talmidim.
“I would like to give back by supporting the Bochurim and girls counselors who will be taking care of Yiddishe Kinderlach in camps this summer,” he says.
The support program comes at no cost to the counselors. It includes three phone calls for the Bochurim and three for the girls. These calls are designed to answer questions about how to best take care of campers, encourage the staff to pay attention to the good campers (who do not make trouble and most often get no attention) and how to handle the really challenging situations.
Staff will be able to speak up on the call and interact with the presenter and other participants. They can also email questions ahead of the calls to be addressed on the call.
Click here to sign up for the program.
I think if all camps start training themselves, their head staff, and their counselors, then we would hear a lot less complaining and a lot more appreciation. To all you camp directors who are sending your staff: thank you ! And to all who aren’t yet: please take care of our children and give them the training they need.
Indeed there are many of us camps out there that run clean professional programs which make the Rebbe proud. A quality program will need to have a strong focus on the staff, both in their personal needs (gashmius & ruchnius) and their professional needs (proper training & support). Do your homework, ask a lot of questions (just please don’t start with “how much do you pay?”) but don’t dismiss the camp experience because of rumors and stories on the internet. As Rabbi Zalmy (a great camp director) said, nobody talks about our camps because there’s nothing exciting to talk about,… Read more »
Thanks #12 for your blunt and straightforward observation. It is truly unfortunate that (as with most things) the negative stories get the press. I don’t remember seeing an op-ed on any website thanking the staff or directors of camp for a great summer where the staff/children had a great time. And it happens for many hundreds of counselors and campers each summer. My wife and I do appreciate the thank you letters we get from our staff each summer thanking us for the beautiful furnished apartment, car (w/ gas card!), healthy and plentiful food, training in life, childcare and communication… Read more »
what a great idea!!
I have read many articles in this vain and have been disturbed by the tone and some of the rhetoric used. Many young people, boys and girls do not want to come and help shluchim in the summer on throughout the year in preschools, hebrew schools and camps. This presents a huge problem. We cant do our shlichus without help from the broader chabad community. We need teachers and counselors and are at the same time not able to finance and pay huge salaries with perks. Chabad Houses and Camp Gan Yisroel are the Rebbe’s moisdois and ultimately both the… Read more »
Giving counselors skills is what they really need. This has the ability to really make camp better!
What a beautiful way to honor his memory. As a camp director I can say that there is no-one better equipped to teach skills and strategies for success than Rabbi Rothman and I will encourage my staff to take advantage of this opportunity.
With curiosity, the camp related articles and the posts that follow. It seems to me that there really is a shift taking place. Programs like these, and other staff training/support initiatives like the one posted last week from CGI Central, tell me that the tide in Gan Yisroel is changing for the better. My guess is, there are directors who are paying close attention to the negative experiences that are being shared and they are actively learning what not to do and more importantly, what they should be doing. Like all good things, the proof will be in their ability… Read more »
i’m going to sign up for this!
i just told my daughter to sign up for this. she was a counselor last summer and she called me for guidance often. i think this is such a fantastic opportunity for her and for all camp counselors to enable themselves and their campers have a happier, more positive summer experience.
What a thoughtful idea…
councilor who are doing it for the first time usualy dont know what theyre doing and they dont know how to take care of theyre campers either.
such a fitting way to honor the memory of such a special man
just wanna say to all you counselors out there that you should all take advantage of this if you can, it will make a huge difference in your summer and in how you deal with your campers. they will thank you for it!
by doing what he did best, teaching the next generation to care for others!
thank you for doing this for our children! my daughter can definitely use some tips for her first time as counselor!