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Friday, September 26, 1947

THE JEWISH NEWS

Page fix

Entire Community Helps Maintain,
Expand Fresh Air Camp Tradition

the attraction lies in FAC's non-

elaborate but cheerful camptits-
the 20 green-and-yellow build-
ings; the extensive wooded area,
valuable for nature study and
camp craft; the wide playground;
the private lake, equipped with
two steel docks, rafts, rowboats
and canoes.
Others are drawn by the camp-
ing activities that keep them busy
—handicraft, waterfront, nature
study, camperaft, athletics and
dramatics, or by special programs
such as Little Council, a series of
tests of strength and skill; song-
fests; Blue and White days;
counselor and camper dramatic
productions; Friday evening ser-
vices; and, topping them all, In-
dian Ceremony, an impressive
nageant at which the most out-
standing campers of each group
are "taken into the tribe," given
Indian names and feather awards.
Parents, of course, are grateful
for FAC's excellent safety pre-
cautions, especially at the water-

Ailert senior girls keep their eyes on the ball during a spirited volleyball game.
.t>

By RUTH M. LEVINE

Jewish News Staff Writer

' Fresh Air Camp is a well-loved tradition in Detroit—
among camRers and staff, and as a community agency. Since its
earliest days, around the turn of the century, it has provided
healthy, fun-filled vacations for children; excellent experience
in child-care for counselors, and the only low-cost rural
camping facilities for the Jewish community.

Located on a large tract of land
on Blaine Lake, near Brighton,
Mich., 44 miles from Detroit,
FAC is sponsored by the Fresh
Air Society, a member agency of
the Jewish Welfare Federation.
The society's activities originally
were designed as a means of tak-
ing underprivileged children on
daily outings into the "fresh air."
After a short time, the volunteer
workers rented a house in Canada
to care for mothers and children.
By 1908 two such projects had
proved inadequate, and a real
camp site was purchased on Lake
St. Clair, near Mt. Clemens, ac-
commodating 230 children every
three weeks. In 1925, Mr. and
Mrs. Edwin Rosenthal donated 50
acres on Blaine Lake, the current
camp site.
At one time there was no
charge for campers, but during
the depression it was found neces-
sary to institute a $6 weekly fee.
This gradually became higher un-
til, today,' the rate is $20 per
week. Only about 45 per cent of
the campers pay the full rate,
however. Fresh Air Camp still
adheres to its original purpose by
granting camperships, on _ the
basis of individual need, to the
remainder of its campers, includ-
ing quotas for each of Detroit's
social agencies.
The financial backing for these
camperships • demonstrates how
thoroughly Fresh Air Camp is
integrated with the entire com-
munity. Twenty-five per cent of
its budget is a grant from the
Community Chest, supported by
Jews and non-Jews, and other
large gifts are regularly donated
by the Montefiore Lodge of De-

troit, the Mendelssohn Fund, the
Couzens Fund, and other groups.
The camp library is maintained
by the Kadimah Club and, for
the 1947 "season, several camper-
ships for children of disabled
veterans were made available by
the Silverman Post of the Jewish
War Veterans.
One of the most important
aspects of these financial ar-
rangements is that only the
camp director and registrar are
aware of each camper's rate.
Once the child has arrived at
camp, there is no distinction
whatsoever between full-pay
and part-pay campers. Even the
purchase of handicraft supplies,
or personal items at the camp
store, are arranged on a charge
account system, so that the
children never handle .cash. Ac-
counts which go beyond the
parents' deposits (in the case
of needy children) are covered
by a portion of the donated
funds.

Fresh Air operates on a - nine-
week season,. divided into three
three-week periods. The children
are transported to and from camp
in chartered buses, and, once
there, are divided into age groups.
At the main camp, the four
dormitories house 50 children
each, girls 7 to 15, and boys, 7 to
12. Thirty boys, 13 to 15, are con-
dered senior campers, and have
their own facilities in a branch
camp directly across Blaine Lake.
Among many families in De-
troit, sinnmex. s at FAC are a
long-time tradition. First the
older children, then the younger
are enrolled, summer after sum-
mer. In time, the campers grow
up and become waiters, counsel-
ors-in-training, then counselors
and administrators. It is not un-
common to find two or three
members of the same family on
the staff at one time.
Nor is it unusual to find many
children boasting that their par-
ents were FAC campers or coun-
selors. Young men and women
who have been at Fresh Air
are united by a strong bond
that keeps them together long
after their camping days are over,
and, FAC personnel smilingly ad-
mit, a remarkable number of
successful marriages are based on
courtships begun at Fresh Air
Camp.

front, whose director is a grad-
uate of the Red Cross Aquatic
School; for the well-equipped
clinic and 12-bed infirmary, head-
quarters for the resident nurse
and doctor; for the excellence of
the nutritious meals prepared in
Fresh Air's two (milk and meat)
kitchens.
And both parents and children
are impressed by, and loyal to
many of the staff members who
are FAC traditions in themselves.
Irwin Shaw, for example, who
has been director for over a
decade (with three years out for
the Navy), and his assistant, Rob-
ert Luby, who managed, this
year, to train a staff which
has taken long strides toward
Fresh Air's high pre-war stand-
ards. They admire, too, the loyal-
ty of the former head of senior
camp, a nature expert from
the Detroit high schools, Albert
H. "Holly" Hollinger, one of the
few non-Jews on the staff; an
of Meyer "Mike" Zeltzer, pre-
war counselor who returned from
service to become program direc-
tor.

These, however, are the more
obvious assets of life at FAC.
The camp's most valuable fea-
ture is that it offers normal
group-living to all types of chil-
dren. A youngster from a brok-
en home, from a large family,
an only child—all receive the
same amount of careful atten-
tion from the counselors, and
are expected to carry out duties
and win privileges on an equal
basis with their dorm-mates.
With this environment, many

Junior campers Morton Cohen, . David Wein, .Beverly Borovitz
and Roberta Marcus watch carefully as nature counselor Bill' Gardner.

explains the right war to handle a snake.

'ft

ROBERT LUBY

It's dinnertime at FAC! The cub boys wait until counselor Sau
Rosner has finished serving before eating.

What is this strong magne-
tism that Fresh Air possesses?
What keeps campers, and staff
members, returning year after
year?
For some, perhaps, it is sheer
necessity. Working parents must
keep their children off the city
streets during the summer, and it
is an-established principle in de-
termining registration priorities
that children of working parents
(especially veterans) are given
first choice, wherever possible.
The majority, however, are
children who clamor each year to
return, goading their parents into
arriving at the camp's city office
almost at dawn- the day registra-
tion opens. For them, perhaps,

•

FRESH AIR SOCIETY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Charles N. Agree, president
Mrs. I. Irving Bittker, vice-
president
Mrs. Felix J. Mahler, secretary
Emanuel J. Harris, treasurer
Irwin Shaw, executive director
Charles E. Brown
Mrs. Douglas I. Brown
Lewis B. Daniels
Harry C. Davidson
Mrs. Aaron DeRoy
Mrs. Joseph G. Fenton
Mrs. H. J. L. Frank
Max C. Handler
Edith S. Heavenrich
John C. Hopp
Milton M. Maddin
Nathan L. Milstein
Jack Menenberg
Herman S. Osnos
Saul H. Rose,
Mrs. Jack Rothberg
Alex Schreiber
Nathan Silverman
Alvin G. Skelly
Barney Smith
Mrs. Gerald D. Spero
Harry Yudkoff

children who have been dub-
bed "problems" are happy, and
cause no disturbanje at camp.
What is seldom evident to
campers or visitors at Fresh Air
is the important role played by
the members of the Fresh Air
Society Board of Directors, who
have giNken generously of their
time and energy so that the chil-
dren may enjoy the best in camp-
ing.
A long list of valuable mem-
bers includes such outstanding
leaders as past-presidents Edith
Heavenrich, Mrs. Edwin Rosen-
thal, Mrs. Douglas I. Brown,
Harry L. Jackson, Alex Schreiber
and the incumbent -Charles N.
Agree.
This, then, is the drawing card,
a combination of elements that
form a magnet so powerful that,
although all the campership ap-
plications can now be filled, many
who would pay the full rate must
still be turned' away.
To remedy this situation, a sub-
committee of the Jewish Welfare
Federation Social Planning Corn-

IRWIN SHAW

mittee, now studying com-
munity camping needs, will
shortly make a recommendation,
to be implemented by community
agencies, for provision of an ad-
ditional camp site.
The entire community is at
work, to maintain current facili-
ties at highest possible standards
and to enlarge them as rapidly as
possible, •to further the fine tra-
dition that is Fresh Air Camp.

Fresh Air Camp

IS ONE OF FIVE JEWISH AGENCIES

WHICH ARE

RED FEATHER SERVICES

OF THE

Detroit Community Chest

You can aid the
Community Chest
as a contributor
or volunteer worker.

1,47 Drive

Oct. 15 - Nov. 12