KIDS

Few Tears

Kids and parents were excited
about departure for summer camp.

father, Harry Rothenberg of
West Bloomfield. "The
rooms are clean, and no one
is yelling."
Lonnie and Linda Bodzin
of Huntington Woods will be
home alone for the next
month. Two of their chil-
dren, Elana, 15, and Jessica,
13, are off to Camp
Tamarack, and their son,
Gabe, is leaving for Israel.
"I'm going to miss them,"
Mrs. Bodzin said. "But I also

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

T

Ludmila Lemberg
says goodbye to
daughter Marina.

he sunny, yet nippy
weather last Sunday
morning was perfect
for a camp send-off.
It was a sign of what was
in store for the kids this
summer — chilly mornings,
hot afternoons and mos-
quito-filled nights.
As bus engines were revv-
ing on Sunday for the 8 a.m.
departure for Camp Maas in
Ortonville, 265 youngsters
joined their duffles on the
big, green buses outside the
Maple-Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center. There, they
bid farewell to moms, dads,
bubbies and zaydes, sisters
and brothers, for a few fun-
filled weeks.
Send-off was cairn this
year, taking only 40 minutes
to load the kids onto the
soon-to-be musical buses en
route to camp. On those six
buses were 24 Soviet Jews.
"It was one of the
smoothest departures I've
ever seen," said Elliot
Sorkin, Fresh Air Society's
director of administration.
This week, 234 children
leave for Camp Tamarack in
Brighton. By the end of the
summer, some 1,500
campers will have descended
upon some branch of the
Fresh Air Society.
At the buses, few teary-
eyed parents could be
spotted in the hovering
crowd.
"They are laughing out
here and it hurts my feel-
ings," said Linda Kaplan of
Farmington Hills, who
broke down in tears when
the buses rolled out of the lot
carrying two of her children,
Evan, 14, and Jason, 11. "It
is terrible that no one is cry-
ing. I miss them so much."
Like many parents of
campers, Mrs. Kaplan will
spend the next few weeks
cleaning her children's bed-
rooms.
"It is very empty around
that house when the kids are
gone," said Mrs. Kaplan's

Hi Danny,
Hope you're
having a good
time!

Love,
Mom

am going out of town to visit
my sister. And we'll go up
north."
Added her husband, "It
gives us something to look
forward to. We will all meet
again in August and
reunite."

Jill Gershenson, 14, spent
one week getting ready for
camp — a typical time span,
most parents agreed. She
took five trips to Brody's for
camp supplies.
"Every time we left there,
we forgot something," said
her mother, Linda Gershen-
son of Birmingham.
Tucked away in Jill's bag
this summer is a reading
light, a Walkman, a Game
Boy (a portable Nintendo
game) and a tennis racket.
And like many of the other
14-year-old girls, summer
camp 1991 meant packing a
pair of bright-colored aqua
socks, eight pairs of shoes
and 32 T-shirts.
"Each of her girlfriends
brought the same things,"
Mrs. Gershenson whispered.
The bus with the eighth
grade boys was quiet with
secrets. They spoke of candy,
hidden in their socks.
"Shh . . ." said one boy. "It
will be confiscated if they
know." ❑

The Schwartz
family bids
farewell to
Michael.

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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