Camp Guide
Join us for an incredible summer of fu !
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit's
From Camn "'"n Work
Center Day Camp
Jewish campers with developmental
disabilities train to get jobs.
June 22-August 14,2015
2
The only camp where YOU choose the program!
+ NEW for 2015: Minecraft, Advanced
Glass and Ceramics, "Frozen" and a
revamped, three-week theater camp!
+ One-week and four-week camps,
with swimming lessons, sports,
canoe, zipline, archery, arts and
crafts and much more!
+ Licensed and accredited by the State
of Michigan and the American
Camping Association
+ Jewish programming and values
+ FREE chaperoned transportation
to and from most locations in
Metro Detroit
Raft! Wineburg
JTA
+ Early bird, referral and membership
discounts
+ Programming for children with
special needs
+ Located on more than 200 beautiful
wooded acres with archery, gaga
pits, pond and nature trails, out-
door and two indoor pools
EBREW IM
Facilitated by counselors from Israel, this camp offers
everything from sports to crafts to games in Hebrew,
guaranteeing a fun and dynamic learning experience.
Register early!
(
all-Hehrew language camp is limited to 30 participants.
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THE AREIVIM PHILANTHROPIC GROUP
Please join us for informational meetings at 6 p.m.
at the JCC in West Bloomfield
Thursday, February 12 I Wednesday, March 25
Monday, April 27 I Tuesday, May 12
For information: http://wbcamp.jccdet.org
or call 248.432.5578.
Fig
Supported by
s .‘ p,RTS HERE!
THE
CENTER
DAY
CAMPS
The Jewish Federation
OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit
D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building
Eugene & Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus
6600 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322
www.jccdet.org
1963200
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30
February 5 • 2015
JN
ike many 22-year-olds, Ben Nadis
has joined the work-a-day world.
He enjoys his job as a courtesy
clerk at the Kroger supermarket near his
home in Farmington Hills, bagging gro-
ceries and retrieving carts, among other
things.
Ben, however, isn't like most 22-year-
olds. He was born with developmental
disabilities.
Ben excels at some complex tasks that
others might find challenging — like
reading
from the
Torah on the
synagogue
bimah. But
he has dif-
ficulties with
some things
often taken
for granted
— under-
Ben Nadis
standing
instructions,
thinking abstractly and effectively com-
municating.
His father, Ronn, said he was "always
hopeful" that his son would find a job, but
also "feared that there would be no way
into the workforce'
For the past year and a half, Ben has
awoken each morning, showered, brushed
his teeth and driven to work on his own.
"I feel good about myself'," he said.
"I feel independent:" He thought for a
moment, and added, And I get paid, too,
which is great!"
Ben is a graduate of Camp Ramah
Wisconsin's Atzmayim (Hebrew for "inde-
pendent") program — one of the Ramah
Camping Movement's four vocational pro-
grams designed to strengthen the social
and independent-living skills of individu-
als with disabilities aged 18 to 25.
An extension of Ramah's Tikvah pro-
gram, which serves approximately 320
campers with learning, developmental,
cognitive and social disabilities through-
out the Conservative camp network's eight
facilities, Atzmayim is part of a growing
phenomenon in the Jewish camp sector:
camp-based vocational programs.
In addition to Ramalis four programs,
there are at least 18 other Jewish camp-
based vocational programs, plus at least
three new ones opening this summer.
Howard Blas, Tikvah director, says
he gets calls "all the time" from camps
interested in starting their own vocational
programs.
Many camps see vocational education
as the logical next step for the inclusion
programs they already have in place for
youths with disabilities.
"I think that for a young person who
grew up in the camp and who knows
camp, it's an ideal place to do this:' said
Bobby Harris, director of the Reform
movement's URJ Camp Coleman, which
added a vocational program for the first
time last summer.
An 'Exploding' Demand
Lisa Tobin, director of disabilities initia-
tives at the Foundation for Jewish Camp,
says the programs are proliferating to
meet increased demand.
Blas explains what he describes as an
"exploding" demand this way: "I think
everyone is thinking about what happens
to their children as they get older and
how they are going to have a meaningful
life."
Blas has extended the cutoff age for
vocational program participants at
Ramah New England from 22 to 25 and
brought in personal job coaches to work
with them.
The programs vary at each site. Camp
Ramah in California, for example, has an
in-camp cafe run entirely by individu-
als with social and cognitive disabilities.
Camp Ramah Wisconsin partners with
local businesses in the nearby town of
Eagle River. Ben Nadis worked as a cour-
tesy clerk at Trig's supermarket in Eagle
River and then at his local Kroger. Other
participants in the Ramah Wisconsin
program have catalogued books in the
library, taken orders at cafes or worked in
Eagle River's children's museum.
For the participants, the learning expe-
rience is as much about honing daily life
skills as it is mastering or executing tasks.
"We are not just working on technical
skills; we are working on getting up on
time, asking questions, learning to follow
rules, dealing with anger management:'
said Ralph Schwartz, Ramah Wisconsin's
director of special needs.
Ara I Ink;11
Interest in vocational programs reflects
not only the Jewish camps' broader effort
to be a more inclusive community, but
also the uphill battle that many people
with disabilities face when looking for
work; the unemployment rate for people
with disabilities is more than 80 percent.
"Employment is a positive thing for
anyone, but for people with disabilities,
having a job can have a positive impact on
life satisfaction:' said Joe Goldfarb, direc-
tor of summer programs at Yachad, the
National Jewish Council for Disabilities.
Yachad, an organization under the