Reading Avodah Applications

                                                                               December 29, 2009

Dear G.U.C.I. Alumni:


It has been a long time since I’ve written a “Staff Letter.”  You old timers may remember when I used to do so.  Here I sit in my usual place in Zionsville on a clear and sunny, snow covered and freezing day, alone in the office watching the year melt away.  It’s quiet here.  That’s unusual for G.U.C.I. It’s nice.

Camp seems far away when December hits town.  There is nothing campy here at all; no kids, no sweat, no campfires to build or pools to chlorinate, no Shiurim to plan or guitars to tune.  But just when we seem to have hit the G.U.C.I. winter solstice a light appeared to brighten these shortest of days.  It’s Avodah.  Don’t get me wrong, there are no Avodahnikim around sweeping, plunging, telling people to get off of their porch.  No.  There are no Avodahnikim at all.  That’s the point.  By next week I have to pick who will be in this amazingly adolescent camp family next summer.  In a week or so I have to let the kids know who’s coming to Avodah 2010.

So, I have been reading Avodah applications and essays all day.  That’s the light.  That’s what is making camp seem close even on a day when I can see through the trees all the way to the boys’ area from my office, without even one leaf to inhibit the view.  I’ve just read the reasons why fifty entering eleventh graders want to spend nine weeks next summer at camp.  Those essays blow me away.  These kids are talking about community, responsibility, giving back to the place that has been their second home, Jewish identity and education, friendship, Tikkun Olam, and more.  It is a knockout to hear what kids think and feel about the place that we have been building all these years.  Many also mention plunging toilets and serving food… in the same sentence (makes one stop and think, eh?).  And although these kids don’t really know what they are getting into, I can already sense their spirit, their humor, and certainly their love for camp. 

I often think about camp’s momentum.  It is true that we start the ball rolling, but as it rolls it carries us along.  I’ve had the good fortune to be swept up in the momentum today by future Avodahnikim and their deep passion for all the good things G.U.C.I. can be.  It’s not about, “If you build it they will come,” rather it’s, If you build it they will  bring it to life and illuminate it with their spirit.  This has been a good day for me.  I’m beginning to see the light.

Ron

A Summer Without Avodah

                                                                                                                        March 1995


Dear GUCI Staff and Faculty:


I wish you all the best for the wonderful 1995.  I know we are going to have an amazing summer together.  This letter is a quasi-report on our progress here at camp, and is also a what-to-expect letter.

Staff:  The entire staff is complete for the summer.  I expect that we will have two Israeli scouts on our counseloring staff, and an Israeli Arts and Crafts Specialist.  This summer we will have the largest (in number not in girth) and highest paid staff in camp’s history.  I can’t wait for us to be together to begin our work.

Faculty:  Faculty for Kallah Aleph and Bet is complete.  We do need Faculty and a nurse for our NFTY/Ohio Valley Institute (we used to call that Ovfty-tute in the good old days) from August 6 to the 13th.

Campers:  Over 440 campers have been enrolled for next summer.  That sounds like a lot, but it is slightly behind where we were last year at this time.  Kallah Bet is all but completely full; however, spaces are available for all age groups in Kallah Aleph.  Please continue to talk up camp and encourage families to contact me and discuss attendance.  Campership assistance is available for campers enrolling in Kallah Aleph.  Please keep our name in front of your congregants and friends.  Help us fill the remaining sixty camper spaces.  Thank you.

Camp Life-Style: I am sure that most of you have heard that there will not be an Avodah unit this summer in camp.  This is the result of a change in the national U.A.H.C. Youth Division program.  We can all expect to be affected by this.  I have already met with last summer’s Avodahnikim and discussed changes in our Machon program necessitated by this circumstance.  Each Machonik will be spending one session in a cabin and one session living in the Avodah building, working as a staff in Camp K’ton and in other areas around camp.  We, the entire staff and faculty will share in the responsibilities of running and cleaning camp.  Our camp will operate much like a kibbutz this summer.  We will all take turns in the kitchen, doing maintenance, and doing other tasks (in addition to our regular camp jobs) to help maintain a clean, safe, and healthy camp.  I like the sound of this approach to camping.  We carry to the next plateau the expression; “Many hands make work light.”  This will be our finest hour of cooperation and communal living.

Leadership staff, Machonikim, Specialists, and Miscellaneous Staff will all be living in the Avodah building this summer.  Faculty will be responsible for cleaning their own rooms, helping in the infirmary, driving campers to doctors, maintaining the Sifria, etc.  We will indeed be building our community together.  I look forward to doing the pots together with you all.  I am thankful for the adventure we are about to experience together.

Ron

Avodah Transition Year