community

Camps fete high-level supporters.

Photos by Jerry Zo lynsky

Send A Kid To Tamarack:

Robert Sklar

I Contributing Editor

T

amarack Camps spotlighted a
very special couple and a major
support foundation at the pre-
glow of its fifth annual "Send A Kid to
Tamarack" fundraiser on April 28 at
the Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield.
The event was part of Bloomfield
Township-based Tamarack Camps' 111th-
year celebration. It included a live auction
hosted by TruTV Hardcore Pawn stars
Les Gold, and his son, Seth, and daughter,
Ashley Gold Broad. Les and Ashley are
Tamarack alumni.
About 150 people attended the pre-glow
to honor Natalie and Manny Charach, the
West Bloomfield couple whose generosity
renovated Sheruth Village at Camp Maas
into a prototype for upgrading other vil-
lages on the Ortonville campgrounds, and
the Ravitz Foundation, a Michigan-based
philanthropic organization founded by
Detroit businessman Edward Ravitz short-
ly before he died in 1999.
The Charach gift grew out of a 2011
tour of Camp Maas. The Charachs are
leading supporters of the Detroit Jewish
community as well as Israel (especially
Magen David Adom, the national ambu-
lance, emergency services and rescue
organization) and local medical research
and medical services. The pre-glow, fit-
tingly, took place in the JCC's Janice
Charach Gallery, which the Charachs built
in memory of their daughter to showcase
emerging local artists.
"Natalie and Manny, you truly have
made a positive difference in the lives of
countless youth and staff who will now
be housed in the new Charach-Sheruth
Village," said Tamarack executive director
Steve Engel in presenting their pre-glow
honor.
Hundreds of Michigan children outside
Metro Detroit have attended Tamarack
Camps through the generosity of the
Ravitz Foundation. In addition, the
5,000-square-foot Ravitz Foundation Arts
Center will open at Camp Maas this sum-
mer.
"We are paying tribute to the Ravitz
Foundation for their work in promoting
Jewish identity at Tamarack Camps:' said
Michael Lippitt, Tamarack president, as he
called forward Foundation board mem-
bers Arnold Shifman, Larry Handler and
Jonathan Aaron at the pre-glow.
The evening's pre-glow, silent auction
and live auction raised more than $200,000
to help finance Tamarack's projected need
of $1.2 million for scholarships this sum-
mer for qualifying families who want their
kids to have a Tamarack-style resident
Jewish camping experience.

❑

Ravitz Foundation board members Arnold Shifman of Huntington Woods, Larry
Handler of Birmingham and Jonathan Aaron of Bloomfield Hills with Tamarack
Camps president Michael Lippitt of Franklin and executive director Steve Engel

Tamarack Camps Vice President of
Development Stacy Brodsky and her
husband, Jeffrey, of West Bloomfield

David Sherbin and his wife, Abbe, patron chair, co-chair Miriam Bergman and her Manny and Natalie Charach of
West Bloomfield
husband, Ron — all of West Bloomfield

A

Hardcore Pawn TruTV stars Ashley Broad, Les Gold and Seth Gold

Event co-chair Alan Borman and his wife,
Missy, of Birmingham

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