Chizuk Amuno Congregation will be kicking off its first-ever summer camp session starting June 26, giving local children a way to stay active, make new friends and extend their Jewish learning into the summertime. CA Camps will be opening nearly a year after the summer camp program was initially announced in 2022, following the completed construction of a new swimming pool on the synagogue’s campus.
While Chizuk Amuno has experimented with smaller, more focused summer camp programs in the past, CA Camps is their first larger program. Over the course of eight weeks, campers ranging from Pre-K students to 8th graders will be able to enjoy a variety of fun activities focusing on arts, sports, STEM and more, along with themed spirit days throughout the summer and special events on Fridays.
“We’re very excited for this inaugural summer,” said Robyn Wolf, CA Camps’ camp director. “We feel like the whole community has really welcomed this new camp.”
A former special education teacher at Glyndon Elementary School, Wolf has spent the last 15 years working at summer camps across the area, including Beth Tfiloh Camps. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many camps were forced to close for the summer due to health-related restrictions. Wolf, along with her sister and fellow teacher Kori Snair, founded Camp Suburban in 2020 — a smaller, COVID-safe camp run out of the Suburban Club of Baltimore in Pikesville. The camp proved so popular that it returned for summer 2021 and 2022 sessions.
Camp Suburban’s success led Chizuk Amuno Executive Director David Schimmel to reach out to her about directing their planned summer camp in early 2022. Schimmel was also a major proponent of the CA Camps program due to his prior experience working at Jewish summer camps.
Wolf recalled that she only had one stipulation for being their camp director: that the camp would need a pool. Schimmel agreed, and construction on the pool started shortly after.
Having an accessible pool at CA Camps was important to Wolf because of her camp career history. “I was the aquatics director at Beth Tfiloh for many, many summers,” she said. She estimates that between her and Snair, who was also a Beth Tfiloh aquatics director and is now CA Camps’ assistant director, the two of them have collectively taught over 5,000 children to swim.
But the new pool is not the main attraction of the camp for her — rather, it’s Chizuk Amuno’s 30-acre campus, with its preexisting facilities and the opportunities they offer.
“We have access to the [Krieger Schechter Day School] classrooms and the gym, which offer air conditioning and different environments. We can move our programming inside if it’s too hot or too rainy,” she explained. “And if it’s beautiful out, we can utilize the amphitheater or the picnic table area. The flexibility is really amazing.”
In addition to the camp’s regular programming, it will also be featuring live performances and events from different performers. There will be camp staples like carnivals and magic shows, but also a live demonstration by the Science Guys and a musical performance by the Israel Scouts. Wolf said that over 500 campers have already registered for the 2023 session.
The camp also aims to present community service opportunities for participants. Once a week, the campers will be participating in a Jewish life program, which will see them bagging lunches for Krieger Schechter Day School’s Bunches of Lunches program, collecting tzedakah, tie-dying clothing items to be donated to local clothing drives and more. Wolf added that it is important that they instill the importance of giving back to the community in their campers at a formative age.
“My hope is that campers walk away from the whole thing with new friendships and camaraderie, a way of giving back to the Jewish community and just having had a fun time overall,” Wolf said. “I just want everyone to have a great, safe summer.”
