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Dear Ranch Camp Families,

As I digested the news and continue to learn more about the events and violence of this past weekend, I’ve felt my heart ache for our friends and families in Israel. There are no words big enough to comfort each other or provide solace for our emotions. Our Israeli staff, campers, and families, both past, present, and future, have left an indelible impact on our community’s relationship with the people and land of Israel.

Like so many other Ranch Campers, my connection to Israel was born from living with and learning from an Israeli staff member who worked with my cabin during my first summer at camp. The Israeli staff helped create a portal of understanding for me into what it means to be Jewish in the United States, and what it means to be Jewish in Israel and call Israel home. The Ranch Camp experience would not be the same without our Israeli counterparts.

The words of the song that we sing to close all our campfires are closer to me, now more than ever. It’s a song that’s been sung at Ranch Camp for as long as anyone can remember, and it illuminates the core of everything we do:

Olam chesed yibaneh

I will build this world from love

And you must build this world from love

And if we build this world from love

Then G-d will build this world from love

Olam chesed yibaneh

Every summer, we strive to create a community built on a foundation of love. It is our hope that everyone who comes through our gates – be they campers or staff – leaves feeling connected and loved for who they are. This song emulates what we hope to teach our campers and staff: what it means to practice chesed (kindness) toward one another and really live our values.

We practice a tradition on the last day of the camp session where everyone picks up a small rock or rubs a pinch of dirt into their clothes. This signifies the idea that wherever they go, a piece of Ranch Camp will now always be with them and that the community they built at camp is always with them. My hope is that our Ranch Camp community living in Israel finds strength in that small piece of camp – and that they know we are thinking of them and standing in solidarity alongside them. My hope for our broader Ranch Camp community is that everyone knows they are not alone.

In the coming days, as registration for Summer 2024 opens, we have already begun the first steps of creating our Ranch Camp community for 2024. And, like all other summers, we are putting together the elements that spark the Ranch Camp magic that lends to a tight-knit, warm, and connected community. Our team is here and available to listen and process. Lastly, for our returning campers and families, we know how much the Israeli staff have meant to you and want to give you a channel to send your love and support to them. Please use this online message board to share your messages with our Israeli staff.

With love,
Katelyn Skeen
Interim Director | JCC Ranch Camp
kskeen@jccdenver.org

Camp is in my blood. Like many east-coast Jewish kids, my mom attended summer camp throughout her entire childhood. She started the first year she was old enough for the camp to take her, and she continued as a staff member until she finally had to enter the adult world. Comparing camp stories with her, I’ve found that we’ve had a lot of experiences in common. The camaraderie between staff and cabin-mates, the closer connection to Judaism and nature, and the opportunities for growth in confidence and ability remain cornerstones of a Jewish summer camp experience. But, given the several decades of separation between my experience and my mom’s, there are many differences, too.

For one thing, camp is safer now, with much more supervision – my mom once wandered all the way to a different property and got in trouble when she showed up an hour late to dinner with a stranger’s horse in tow. And, of course, we go to camp for a much shorter length of time. When my mom was six years old, she went to camp for the first time and stayed for six weeks. Here at Ranch Camp, minis of the same age (or even older) stay for only one. 

When I meet parents on drop off day, many of them share similar stories, telling me about how long they went to camp when they were younger than their own children. To some, a week at Ranch Camp doesn’t sound like nearly enough. If kids could handle six weeks away from home back then, why can’t they do it now? How could a camper have the life-changing experience of camp in just seven days? What’s the point?

In my potentially slightly-biased opinion as the Chalutzim unit head, I think there is a very important point in sending kids to a mini session at Ranch Camp. A mini session is like an appetizer before a full meal. For kids who are nervous about being away from home for the first time, being here for just one week whets their appetite for more without overwhelming them on the first go. 

They get to experience some of the touchstone programs of camp, like Maccabiah, Gold Rush, and campfire. They still get to bond with the other Chalutzim campers during unit programs like Ranch Camp Jeopardy or Wishboats. And they have enough time to get used to the day-to-day schedule of camp, so that when they come back next year they know which songs we sing at degel and which shower stall has the best water pressure. Full-session Chalutzim campers who attended a mini session the summer before are some of the most successful campers to come through the front gates. Armed with the knowledge and confidence that the mini session has given them, they are much more easily able to adjust to the rhythm of camp, and to help their cabinmates do the same. 

Out in the real world, adults attend orientations all the time. At a new job, a college tour, or a new house, people take the time to make themselves comfortable before settling in. For campers, that’s exactly what a mini session is for – it’s a week of orientation, hand in hand with discovery, adventure, and a rousing welcome into the Ranch Camp community.

Shabbat Shalom Ranch Camp!

What a wonderful week it has been. We’ve had an absolute blast in our first full week of Session 3. I cannot believe that we are looking down the horizon of the last week of camp. This has been an absolutely amazing session so far and it’s crazy that it is so close to the end.

This week we had quite the laundry list of exciting activities. Our TASCers began their 10 day trip on Monday, and are having quite the adventure up north despite, or in spite of, some pretty consistent rain every day. Not to mention our Toshavim 8th grade boys took their four day to Staunton State Park and also had such a great time, also, in spite of the rain and some sniffles on the trail.

Back at camp, it’s been a weather weird week. We got missed by the biggest storm of the summer, we had an awesome time at Gold Rush on Wednesday, we had an completely unhinged afternoon at Mayhem Day, where I was dunked in the dunk tank by basically every Toshavim camper, over, and over, and over again. It was a riot of a day only marred by the fact that it was the first day below 80 degrees Fahrenheit (it was about 60) for the first time all summer.

We had a fantastic Shabbat together with all our campers, indoors, as it was once again storming out on Friday night. The Mo was full of soul, signature, spirit and song. Once the storm cleared out, we danced outside under what was the best night sky of the summer – you’ll see some of the beauty in some of our pictures.

I truly cannot believe we are looking down the chute to the last seven days of main camp for 2022. It was been a summer for the record books, outside of a pool that deserves to be a skate park, but a summer for the record books nonetheless. I hope this session and the sessions before it have helped your campers be the best possible versions of themselves and given them a confidence in their ability to make the world a better place through their own actions.

Shabbat Shalom Ranch Camp Families!

What an amazing first week kicking off Session 3. It is truly a packed house this session! We’ve got over 160 campers on site and almost every bed at camp is full – it’s a really awesome send off to what has been a phenomenal summer.

The first week of the session is always my favorite – seeing friends reconnect and faces light up throughout the first few days is a real treat and never stops putting a smile on my face. It’s awesome to see so many campers returning this session for 2021 and beyond, really bringing a full (and very loud) community for our last camp session of the summer!

Truly appreciate everyone’s patience at drop off. I know check-in took a little longer than expected for some of ya’ll, and I can’t thank everyone enough for being so patient coming in for arrival.

It couldn’t be the first week of camp without some great activities. We’ve spent the first few days in cabin cohorts, and when we get through our final round of COVID testing, we’ll break out into activity groups and get camp fired up proper on Sunday morning. That being said, we had an awesome first few days of program, riding horses and bikes, screaming down the zip line, and jammin’ it up with some ultimate frisbee on the sports field. We had an AMAZING all camp capture the flag to close out our first few days of evening programs, congrats to the red team (not playing favorites at all) on their absolutely dominating victory.

Our first Shabbat today was so full of people, and full of soul. The community that comes during Session 3 is a special one – very invested into camp and its myriad of unique traditions – and whether its chanting in the Chad, or morning Degel, or bumping tunes during Shabbat services, this crew really brought the energy to our first Shabbat weekend and I can’t WAIT to see where it goes from here.

So excited for what this coming week will bring. Enjoy the photos, stories, and journeys your campers take as we rock into the rest of Session 3!