Teens’ donation drive helps families prepare for camp

Orly Lipsitz, left, and Leora Nash

TORONTO — Three Toronto teens have developed a new initiative to help parents prepare their children for Jewish overnight camp.

Stemming from their participation in UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Diller Teen Fellows Program, Leora Nash, 17, Orly Lipsitz, 17, and Judah Hoffman, 16, created a program called One Stop Camp Shop to collect new and gently used camp supplies for families who are new to the overnight camp experience.

Nash, Lipsitz and Hoffman, all Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto students, partnered with UJA’s Silber Family Centre for Jewish Camping, Canadian Young Judea’s JOLT, and Camp Northland’s G3 initiative to develop One Stop Camp Shop, an alumni project that Diller fellows are expected to lead upon completion of the 15-month program.

“One of the responsibilities of the alumni is to develop their own community impact project and they received support from Diller and UJA to get these projects off the ground,” explained Raquel Binder, UJA Federation’s Israel Engagement and Diller Teen Fellows Program co-ordinator.

“When we were thinking about what we wanted to do, we’ve all gone to Jewish summer camps and we all love it, so we were thinking of ways we could give back to that community,” said Nash, a Camp Shalom and Camp Solelim alum.

“We thought about how there are a lot of organizations that help with the cost of camp, but there aren’t really any that help with the cost of supplies and getting ready for camp. That can be a huge burden.”

“Leora, Orly and Judah came up with this idea, because they all grew up in the camping system within the Greater Toronto Area and it was something that was near and dear to their hearts,” Binder said.

“They realized that getting ready for camp is a very onerous experience for families, especially new camp families, and they wanted to come up with a way to alleviate some of that stress.”

Binder said that for the past couple weeks and until May 31, new and gently used camp supplies are being collected through donation bins at TanenbaumCHAT’s Wilmington Avenue campus, Beth Tzedec Congregation and Shaarei Shomayim Synagogue.

On May 31, the One Stop Camp Shop committee, which consists of Canadian Young Judea JOLT volunteers and Diller Teen alumni led by Nash, Lipsitz and Hoffman, will be packaging the donations into camp kits.

“This is a donation-based initiative. The point is to truly relieve any kind of stress and just make getting ready for camp easier for families, especially families who have children who are going to camp for the first time,” Binder said, adding that these packages could cost a family upwards of hundreds of dollars.

Nash said she expects they’ll be arranging 10 packages that include a sleeping bag, toiletries, duffle bag, laundry bag, flashlight and batteries.

If there are extra supplies, they will be donated to Jewish camps.