I love coming to camp because I had only experienced GFC through NFTY-TOR (then TOFTY) kallot (retreats) and didn’t come to GFC until I went on Garin Greene and the summer after working with Loui Dobin’s kids. It has been amazing to experience camp as an adult, making new friends and creating closer connections with my colleagues. We usually try to come the same week every year, much as our kids try to come the same session and be in the same bunk.
I enjoy how the faculty program has developed over the years, adding more chances for us to connect with the campers and more opportunities for us to experience what our campers do, with tie-dye, STEAM activities, sessions with visiting artists and even just time to “hang out” in our own place
What I really love is being in a Jewish environment 24/7 and getting to see everyone immersed in it. Camp teaches us how to live our lives with other people, to make friends, to be in the moments (the big ones and the small ones). It’s a wondrous place.
Cantor Francyne Davis Jacobs
Houston, TX
As a former not-so-happy camper at my own sleep-away camp, the idea of coming to camp as faculty was a challenge I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy fully. As a Jewish Educator I hear from students all the time that they’re home; the place they feel most like themselves is their Jewish Summer Camp. But was this something I was ready to take on? To say my experience on faculty has been a joy would be an understatement. From the moment I stepped onto Greene I was welcomed and treated like family.
There is something special here out in this little camp in Texas. Being here has taught me to love camp again, getting to work with Kibbutz and the other faculty has reminded me how much learning we still get to do together. Even around topics and places we have explored before. While I may not have grown up here, gone to camp here, nor do I even live in the same state, GFC now holds a special place in my heart. It’s not the big events, but the small moments when you see campers laughing, and singing songs and shira (song session), or discovering something completely new to them. It’s the excitement on their faces when their friends take the zip line. Greene Family Camp really is that. A family, and I can’t thank GFC enough for welcoming me into it this summer. This is what being Jewish is about, creating a Kehillah Kadosha, a holy community, in all our moments together.
Zoë Smith, M.Ed.
Leadership Development Manager
URJ Religious Action Center (RAC) of Reform Judaism