 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

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