JCC Association Camping Services

JCC Association/Coca-Cola Days of Caring and Sharing Program Is a Great Success for Summer Camps

JCC Association, through the generous sponsorship of The Coca-Cola Company®, continues to offer both day and resident summer camps the opportunity to help their communities through the JCC Association/Coca-Cola Days of Caring and Sharing community-service program. This past summer 32 resident and day camps were awarded grants to fund activities and projects focused on improving the world we live in. To help ground the Days of Caring and Sharing activities in Jewish values, JCC Association’s Mandel Center for Jewish Education developed companion curricular units about the responsibility of each child to make a positive contribution to our world. This summer’s theme was V’ahavtah L’rei-akhah Kamokhah, Love Your Friend the Way You Love Yourself.

Patterned on the Days of Caring and Sharing projects at the JCC Maccabi Games® each August, participating camps spent a day working on service activities that contributed to the welfare of the community. Camp Nah-Jee-Wah of the New Jersey YM-YWHA Camps hired a professional clown to teach their campers the art of clowning, and then brought the children to a hospital to entertain young patients. Camp Ruach at the Asheville Jewish Community Center in Asheville, North Carolina continued a program they started last summer. Middle-school-age campers gave swimming lessons to 20 children from a local Head Start program who attended camp one day a week. Near the end of the summer, the camper mentors were responsible for putting on a carnival for the Head Start children as well as fellow campers and JCC seniors.

This past spring, for the first time, JCC Association held two training sessions for the Days of Caring and Sharing program, one on the East Coast in JCC Association’s New York City office, and one in the Midwest, at the JCC of Greater Kansas City. “Feedback was very positive,” said Charlene Wendell, JCC Association consultant on camping, “and everyone was very excited to go back to their communities and get things started.” Steve Tepper from the Barshop JCC in San Antonio said, “I feel like the training was instrumental to the successful implementation of this project.”

“From The Coca-Cola Company's perspective, this program is not only a way to enhance the values of our youth, but also a way for them to give back to local communities,” said Quinton Martin, vice-president of community marketing, Coca-Cola North America. “They learn the meaning of caring for one another, of sharing, of being responsible, and of becoming leaders of today’s younger generation.”

JCC Association and The Coca-Cola Company have had a long-standing and very positive relationship. The Coca-Cola Company has been a continental sponsor of the JCC Maccabi Games for over 14 years. JCC Association is very proud of Coca-Cola's support, and is particularly pleased to be able to add this meaningful dimension to the camping experience.

The following camps participated in the Coca-Cola grant program this past summer:

RESIDENT CAMPS
Camp Barney Medintz, Marcus JCC of Atlanta
Camp Chi, JCC of Chicago
Camp Interlaken, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Camp JCA Shalom, Malibu, California
NJ YM-YWHA Camps, Fairfield, New Jersey
Tamarack Camps, JCC of Metropolitan Detroit

DAY CAMPS
Aaron Family JCC, Dallas, Texas
Adolph & Rose Levis JCC, Boca Raton, Florida
Alper JCC, Miami, Florida
Asheville JCC, Asheville, North Carolina
Barshop JCC, San Antonio, Texas
Birnbaum JCC, Bridgewater, New Jersey
David Posnack JCC, Davie, Florida
Hochman JCC, Boynton Beach, Florida
JCC of Greater Kansas City, Overland Park, Kansas
JCC of Greater Orlando, Orlando, Florida
JCC of Houston, Houston, Texas
JCC of Metropolitan Detroit, West Bloomfield, Michigan
JCC of Northern Virginia, Fairfax, Virginia
JCC of the Greater St. Paul Area, St. Paul, Minnesota
JCC of Wyoming Valley, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania
JCC, Worcester, Massachusetts
Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg, Harrisburg, Pennyslvania
Katz JCC, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Peninsula JCC, Foster City, California
Rady JCC, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Samuel Field YM-YWHA, Little Neck, New York
Simon Family JCC, Norfolk, Virginia
Springfield JCC, Springfield, Massachusetts
Washington DC JCC, Washington DC
York JCC, York, Pennsylvania
Youngstown JCC, Youngstown, Pennsylvania