Jonah Geller, executive director of Tamarack Camps, of Farmington Hills

Young leaders enjoy a
family day at Tamarack.

T

Naomi Rockowitz of Jerusalem with
Shaylee Cioban of Nazareth Illit

Molly Chernow of Bloomfield Hills with her
daughter, Sophie, 7, and Hannah Gorosh, 7,
of Birmingham

David Kramer and his son, Max, 2, of
Bloomfield Hills

k

Jeff Michaelson of Huntington Woods with
his sons, Daniel, 3 months, and Noah, 3

34 August 16 • 2007

JN

Israeli camper Hai Tal, 13, of Nazareth Illit
with his host family, Steve and Lori Mertz of
Huntington Woods

amarack Camps hold a
special place in the heart
of Darren Findling of
Huntington Woods. As a child, he
enjoyed summers of swimming, sports
and Jewish enrichment on the 10,000-
acre wooded grounds of
Tamarack's residential
camping facility, Camp Maas
in Ortonville. As an adult,
Findling serves on the board
of the Fresh Air Society,
which oversees Tamarack
Camps. The father of four
young children also met his
wife, Alyson, at camp.
This a special place:'
Findling said. "There are a
lot of camps out there, but there's only
one camp that's Jewish and is part
of Federation. That's important for
people to realize."
Findling, his wife and their children,
Emily, 8, Ryan, 6, Hannah, 3 and Justin,
7 months, took part in a day of fun
at Camp Maas on Aug. 5 with about
two dozen other families who are part
of the Grosfeld Leadership Program.
The invitation-only program spon-
sored by Jim and Nancy Grosfeld of
Bloomfield Hills takes young adults on
annual missions to Israel, Poland and
the former Soviet Union to give them a
firsthand look at how money raised by
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit helps people oversees.
"It was a life-changing experience
for me," said Anessa Kramer of
Bloomfield Hills. Her husband, David,

also took part in the Grosfeld program,
which just completed its sixth year. "I'd
never been to Israel before and it gave
me a whole new perspective!'
The Kramers brought their little
ones, Sam, 4, and Max, 2, to camp to
do some canoeing, kayaking
and tubing. The group also
met with Tamarack's execu-
tive director, Jonah Geller
of Farmington Hills, and
enjoyed a barbecue dinner.
"This is really an agency
tour," said Marianne
Bloomberg, director of mis-
sions, outreach and develop-
ment for Federation. "We
wanted people to see where
their campaign dollars go."
"This place has a 105-year history,
so it's touched people's lives through
multiple generations:' added Findling.
"It just has special qualities you can
only experience by setting foot here
and seeing the children enjoying a
unique camping experience."
Spotted in the camp crowd were:
Jason Katz of Farmington Hills; Laura
and David Gorosh and Lisa and
Mark Menuck of Birmingham; Renee
and Eric Zacks, Jodi and Jeffrey
Michaelson, Lori Davidson Mertz
and Steve Mertz, and Scott Kaufman,
all of Huntington Woods. I I

For more information about
Tamarack Camps, go to their Web
site: www.tamarackcamps.com .