Letters From Camp Avnet and Gural JCC Day Camp

From Camp Avnet:

Dear Parents and Friends,

If you know me on a personal level, then hopefully you would characterize me as both a straight talker and an optimist. I hope both of those traits will be apparent in what you’re about to read.

In EVERY meeting and conversation I have had with the leadership of HALB, there was one stated reason to open Avnet. And that was to provide a service to the community. It was repeated MANY times and reaffirmed this morning. And it was seemingly obvious that it was never more needed than now.

With excitement we announced our opening, and asked you to tell us your plans by 9:00 AM yesterday morning. Almost every enrolled family responded and we appreciate the respect you showed us in doing so.

The abundant gratitude on the part of the parents is evident in the emails, text messages, Facebook messages and phone calls I keep getting. Parents are thrilled to have the chance to send their children to Avnet, to a camp built around the hashkafic values they hold dear. Even while typing this email, I received such a message of thanks (along with a bunk request 🙂 ).

We’ve given a clear message that we plan to adhere to recommended safety guidelines while at the same time, engaging creatively to program for a summer that will ‘look a little different.’ Already those planning sessions have begun! We are blessed to have 3 heated pools of various depths, with plenty of space to easily accommodate children of all ages and as young as 3. We are planning to utilize the expansive resources of the HALB campuses to their fullest to provide the array of specialties (Arts & Crafts, Cooking etc.) as we always do. We have numerous baseball fields, gyms and courts at our disposal that allow for the playing of sports while remaining in strict adherence to safety guidelines.

We’ve been encouraged by leading local doctors to open. Rabbi Dr Aaron Glatt read this letter and responded with the following endorsement: “…that a supervised day camp setting with appropriate oversight and adherence to the recommended guidelines is potentially much safer (medically and spiritually) than an unsupervised group of children hanging out together with limited or no supervision.” It is clear that it is absolutely essential for us to open camp this year. The structure and ‘return to normalcy’ that we provide are by far the best option for our children this summer.

At present, WE STILL HOPE TO OPEN, but are short of the number of registrants we would need to avoid operating at a financial loss. This is a reality that only became apparent last evening.

HALB as an organization chooses to run Avnet Country Day School as a service to our community. But it cannot operate the camp at a financial loss. However, we cannot throw in the towel. Too many parents and children need what we provide.

At every moment in this process, I have believed that the community we so vigorously aim to serve, would partner with us, thereby enabling us to do what we love, provide the joyful summer our children so badly need. We are almost there! The gap in enrollment that we need to close is by no means insurmountable and registrations continue to come in.

We are obviously aware of the announced closing of Camp Hillel. We know our dear friends did not take that step lightly and we can relate to the difficulty and sadness they surely faced in arriving at the decision to close the doors on a whole season. With that in mind, we have decided to leave registration open until 9:00 A.M., Thursday morning.

While we understand that some people feel uncomfortable signing up their children for a program that will last only 5 weeks, please understand that our end date was chosen with care. HALB must ensure the integrity of our ability to OPEN SCHOOL ON TIME, and continue with our aforementioned academic goals. The weeks allotted between the end of camp and the beginning of school were left there to provide not only time for sanitizing our buildings, but for insurance against any eventuality that could arise. Over the last few months, we have all learned to expect the unexpected and the opportunity to begin our school year, ON SCHEDULE, IN THE BUILDINGS, is something we cannot risk. I apologize if this was not explained to satisfaction in our previous email.

Undoubtedly, some of you reading this email, whose children are already enrolled in Avnet, will be worried about your children’s summer plans and the dollars you’ve spent. Regarding money, let me be as clear as possible. If Avnet doesn’t open, every dollar will be returned. We are also fully cognizant of the idea that you will need time to make alternate plans in the event that we don’t open. We are committed to making a decision by Friday morning. If at that time we have met the minimum enrollment to ensure our avoiding a financial loss, we will jubilantly affirm our commitment to opening. At this time, rather than send a simple email that says “registration is still open,” we have chosen to send this email that lays out, with full transparency, as is always our approach, the situation we are in.

There are so many parents that need us to care for their children. Some because they need a mental break from full time childcare and some because they will be returning to work. Children need us for the opportunity to resume structured living. Even our staff, teens and adults alike, figure into our consideration. All of them look forward to being back in the summer camp setting that many of us remember so fondly for the opportunities it provides for growth and serenity. For all of them, we hope to avoid the heartbreak that will certainly accompany our need to close. We will spend the next 48 hours in a state of optimistic excitement. We will be in the office, over the next two days, for as long as it takes to answer every email, phone call and text message in the hope that we can realize the dream of Avnet 2020!

Please be in touch!

From Gural JCC: