Over the past eleven years, hundreds of Jewish girls from Chabad Houses around the world, attended CGI Poconos, where they learned about and experienced Yiddishkeit, in a fun and joyful environment.
Each year, camp hears from many Shluchim that the girls return from camp to their respective communities, with palpable excitement and energy for Yiddishkeit. However, as the weeks go by, naturally, the initial excitement, fire and connection wanes. This year, CGI Poconos has decided to combat this phenomenon.
In honor of their “Bas Mitzvah” anniversary and continuing the wave of growth, CGI Poconos is excited to announce that two former head staff members, Sara Levertov and Rochele Klein will be joining the full time staff as Directors of Camper Engagement.
“Camp is a place where the girls learn to love Hashem, Yiddishkiet, Torah and Mitzvos, all while having fun with friends, and the campers are really excited to have that even when camp is over,” said Sara Levertov, the Director of Camper Engagement. “Just last week alone, over 60 women and girls lit Shabbos candles as part of our shabbos candle challenge”.
The new office will be arranging and implementing many new initiatives such as weekly shabbat candle campaigns, Holiday packages, birthday celebrations, regional reunions & Shabbatons, bat-mitzvah celebrations, monthly newsletters and most importantly keeping in touch with all the campers.
“In camp the girls are naturally more open to learning about and practicing different Mitzvos!”, said Rochele Klein, the Director of Camper Engagement. “Now we could create that same environment for them, all year round, whether it be baking honey cake for Rosh Hashana on Zoom, celebrating their jewish birthday with camp friends, or just chatting with your bunkmates about school.”
As part of this larger growth project, Just last week, CGI Poconos announced the hiring of a new Director of Staffing & Programming, who will be creating and implementing a brand new program curriculum, designed exclusively for the campers of CGI Poconos.
“Experiencing the camps growth and expansion over the past two years and hearing the overwhelming feedback and support from parents and shluchim has been incredible,” said Rabbi Moshe Browd, Director of Growth & Operations, who is overseeing many of these new initiatives.
To find out more about Camp Gan Israel Poconos visit www.cgipoconos.org and to help support this new initiative visit https://jewishcampfund.org/
We are so proud of you Gershon and Debbie! May all your aspirations continue to come through!