What’s new on the GFC Blog?
Watch Us Grow! GFC Construction Update
What a difference a month makes! The incredible year of building and renovation at GFC started with a LOT of rain and nasty weather, but the skies have cleared and work on many of our buildings is proceeding at a furious pace. Here’s just a taste of what you can expect to see this summer, if not sooner!
Force of Nature: Houston Teens Host NFTY Events Impacted by Hurricane Harvey
NFTY TOR’s Winter Conclave & Nashir Weekend 2019 was much more than just another NFTY event. It was, for some, closure. Originally Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism was supposed to host the weekend in Houston Texas in October of 2017. However, Hurricane Harvey had a different idea for our city, our community and our congregation. While our synagogue was spared the majority of our participants and housing families were not.
In Memory of Katherine Bauer
Five years ago, on the last night of first session, a group of counselors gathered their campers and led them on a late-night hike into the woods. “Where are we going?” they asked. “You’ll see,” said their counselors.
Adventure Awaits: A Preview of GFC’s 2019 Men’s Weekend
We want to open the gates of camp to as many different people as possible through summer and year round programs. Rabbi Andrew Terkel likes to say that “camp is for everybody,” and the growth of our Year Round programs seems to bolster that fact. Families, men, women, young adults, and veteran staff members have all come to camp for weekend retreats over the last couple years and leave refreshed, renewed, and reinvigorated.
Honoring the Joshua Tree
The Joshua tree has stood in the middle of the Camp since way before that land was even a part of the Camp. When we bought that property from the Smith family, the Joshua Tree was already growing strong on the land. Generations of Greene Family Campers, staff, and guests have enjoyed its shade. Every opening and closing day, the Avodah unit has made its luggage HQ under its branches.
Greene Family Camp is at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC in Houston!
As our GFC Full-Time Team has expanded, we’ve been able to spread across cities and become more involved in the local Jewish Community. Whether it’s working with our incredible congregations, partnering with multiple organizations and congregations to develop and run Hurricane Harvey Day Camp, or participating in events throughout the community, GFC has been thrilled to be such an involved part of the Houston Jewish Community. We are fortunate to have three of our full-time team members in Houston throughout the year, including Camp Director Stefani Rozen and Assistant Directors Emily Caulfield and McKenzie Sigle.
Farewell from Michele
When I walk laps around perimeter road today, I’m in awe of how much my relationship with this place has changed in four years. When I first came to Greene, it felt SO big. I didn’t know the difference between my Beit Aish and my Beit HaAm. All of the faces were new to me and none of the almost 800 kids were ever my campers as a counselor. It was also a reunion summer which is a particularly busy time to be thrown into a new job focused on communications.
Remembering Rona Ramon
I was introduced to Rona and her husband Ilan in 2002 by Ellen and Louis Krinsky. Ilan, Israel’s first astronaut, was stationed in Houston in preparation for a flight aboard Space Shuttle Columbia the next year. With Ilan in training, Ellen and Louis thought it would be good idea if Rona and her children, Asaf, Tal, Yiftach and Noa, spent a summer in Bruceville just as their daughters, Lauren and Dorey did years before.
Music and Songleading Helped me Find My Jewish Identity
“Songleading is such an amazing way to engage in your Judaism, while creating special and spiritual moments for your community. Music and songleading is how I found my Jewish identity and I love sharing my love for music and passion for Judaism with my congregation at temple and with all of NFTY-TOR! Nashir is such an amazing opportunity to expand your songleading skills learn how to lead a congregation to help them experience the same beautiful, musical and spiritual moments that are equally as rewarding to create!” -Zoey Weinstein, NFTY TOR Religious & Cultural Vice President
Thanksgiving with the Folk Dancers
Happy Thanksgiving from Bruceville, Texas! The weather this weekend was absolutely perfect. The trees are changing color, and it is breezy and cool. There were even deer wandering around the cabins!