MAY 21 • 2020 | 21 C amp Walden in Cheboygan, Michigan, will delay its possible start date until at least mid-July, according to an email sent to camper parents May 14. The email, sent by Camp Walden owners Scott Ruthart and Liz Stevens, says even if the state of Michigan allows summer camps to run at some point this year, Camp Walden may still not open. It will depend on the conditions the state puts forth for opening camps. “We want to run the camp that we want to run. We want to run the camp that the kids expect; we don’ t want to run a camp where if you’ re in Cabin G3, you’ re not allowed to go into G4 and braid your friend’ s hair, ” Stevens told the Jewish News. Stevens said they decided to delay Walden instead of canceling at this point because there are a lot of unanswered questions about how summer camps will look this year. “It just gives me a pit in my stomach to think that I might not see any of those kids this summer, ” she said. “On the other hand, it’ s a relief to know we’ re not going to have to rush into something we’ re not 100 percent comfortable with. ” The email also asked parents to indicate their interest in partici- pating in “family camp” at Walden if that seems like a feasible option later in the summer. Stevens said they haven’ t figured out how that might look yet, but that it would involve allowing families to come to Walden and use the camp’ s facilities. Since sending out the email, “there’ s been ringing endorsement for family camp, ” Stevens said. “Family camp is a whole dif- ferent animal, but if it’ s what we can do safely this summer, then we will seriously consider offering that sort of experience for fami- lies, ” she said. If parents choose to cancel for this summer, they have the option to roll their deposit over to next year. They can also decide to pay a $150 processing fee to get a refund, but the email warns that campers who cancel now will not have a spot reserved if the camp does open at some point this sum- mer. As of now, Stevens said not many parents have chosen to can- cel their children’ s enrollment. The camp usually hosts 430 to 450 kids throughout the summer, along with about 115 staff. “If we were to have regular camp, I’ m certain that the num- bers would be lower, and that’ s OK, ” she said. “But we would still want enough campers to make it a real camp experience. ” The family-run coed sleepaway camp has been a popular desti- nation for Metro Detroit Jewish families for generations. Camp Walden expects to send out another update around June 1. Extremism, which helps compile the ADL’ s annual audits. Normandin said the groups felt that counting the protests 52 times would distort the data but counting them only once seemed unrepresentative. In the end, they decided counting the protests once a month made the most sense. The protests were not includ- ed in the 2018 audit because they were not reported to the ADL that year, according to Normandin. In the summer of 2019, the organization did receive a report, which was coupled with “a real intensity in the rhetoric that was used at the synagogue,” Normandin said. This year’ s increase in inci- dents is part of a nationwide trend. Nationally, incidents rose by 12 percent over the last year to 2,107 — the highest number ever recorded by the ADL since it began tracking anti-Semitic acts in 1979. In 2015, there were only six incidents of anti-Semitism corroborated by the ADL in Michigan, Normandin said. “It’ s gone up seven-fold in the last five years,” Normandin said. “People are definitely feeling as if they have the authority to do this. They’ ve gotten embold- ened.” Normandin said ADL Michigan has already corrobo- rated and approved 14 incidents of anti-Semitism for the 2020 audit, which is about on track with last year. “The current COVID situa- tion has put the entire country on edge, and there is no doubt that all types of hatred have risen,” she said. “They’ re using old anti-Semitic tropes like blaming and scapegoating, par- ticularly to Jews and particularly to Asian-Americans.” To fight back against anti-Semitism and all types of hate, Normandin recommends people stand up to apathy, demand that educators and pub- lic officials stand up to hate and hold digital platforms account- able for preventing online hate. She said Michiganders can also advocate for stronger hate- crime laws and increased securi- ty funding for places of worship. “We can’ t be apathetic about [anti-Semitism],” Normandin said. “We can’ t take the approach, ‘ Oh we’ ve heard this before, we know what this is.’ We need to really, really contin- ue to call it out.” ALEX SHERMAN A Witness for Peace protester readies his signs for the weekly Shabbat pro- test that started in 2003 outside Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor. ADL Michigan included the protests in their anti-Semitism counter for the first time in 2019. Camp Walden Delays Potential Start Date to Mid-July Family camp is a possibility for later in the summer. MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER Camp Walden owners Scott Ruthart and Liz Stevens lead the first-night campfire last year. CAMP WALDEN continued from page 20