When Jennifer Gorodetsky’s daughter Gwen was old enough for her first summer at camp, there was some reluctance to send her. “I’d always been told camp is important. But I never really bought into it because I always thought that we go to Hebrew school, we go to services almost every Saturday, and we’re tight with the Jewish community. I didn’t see why this was so important.”
Add to these reasons the high cost of two weeks at sleep away camp, and Gorodetsky just was not convinced it was best for her family. Asking for financial assistance also did not feel quite right. Gorodetsky is a physician who felt she could support her family, but years of paying off student loans had taken a financial toll.
Then, Sharon Paz, director of lifelong learning at West End Synagogue, suggested Gorodetsky apply for a grant from One Happy Camper, just one of The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville’s grant programs that helps families with summer camp expenses. “She encouraged me to do it, and of course it was great,” says Gorodetsky.
One Happy Camper is just one example of how the Jewish Federation continues its mission to support the Jewish community and foster a sense of connection and belonging. Michal Eshkenazi Becker, chief impact and planning officer for the Federation says, “An essential part of this communal responsibility is the Jewish Federation’s scholarships and grants. An essential part of these grants is summer camp financial assistance.”
According to the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s 2024 report 94% of families surveyed said that overnight camp helped their child feel part of the larger Jewish community and its peoplehood. Becker says, this is why the Federation supports several options to help families send their children to camp. “We give grants to Camp Davis based on financial need, we provide scholarships for sleepaway camps for families, based on financial needs, and we provide grants through One Happy Camper, which is not need based and is for first time campers to Jewish overnight camps.”
The cost of summer camp, both day and overnight, has skyrocketed and more families like Gorodetsky’s are applying for grants from programs like One Happy Camper. The 2024 report shows household incomes of more than $200 thousand has increased from 17% to 32% in the last nine years. “It’s expensive to be Jewish,” says Becker.
The One Happy Camper program is a one-time grant for children who have not yet attended a Jewish sleep over camp and are enrolling for at least twelve nights. Families choose from a wide variety of Jewish camps nationwide. Rabbi Avi Orlow is the scholar-in-residence for the Foundation for Jewish Camps. He says, “Every camp is not right for every kid, but there is a Jewish camp for every kid. And if we can find that right home, it’s not going to just be a home for the summer, it’s going to be a home for a lifetime of other Jewish choices they’re going to be making.”
The choice for the Gorodetsky family was Camp Ramah Darom. And despite Gorodetsky’s reservations and her own personal fears, her daughter had a great summer. “She said, ‘I was around people who are all Jewish. I don’t feel like an outsider.’ She had this amazing camp experience.”
That amazing time is exactly what Orlow says is the goal of One Happy Camper. “We’re a community of belonging and camp is a manifestation of that belonging. You just show up and you already have an a plus.” Orlow says this need for belonging is even more important since October 7th. “It’s sort of exponentially a sense of desire for being in places where I belong. I don’t have to apologize for who I am.”
Since the One Happy Camper incentive is only for one year, success might be measured by the number of families that send their children to camp the second year, with no incentive. The 2024 survey found 87% of families send their children in year two. Case in point, Gorodetsky has already enrolled her daughter for this coming summer at Camp Ramah and hopes to use the incentive in a few years for her younger daughter.
Marisa Braunstein, program manager for One Happy Camper, says the numbers support Becker’s assertion that participation in Jewish camp helps connect families to the local Jewish community. In the 2024 parents’ report, she says, “60% of One Happy Camper recipients report having a higher degree of involvement and engagement with their temple or synagogue after the summer at camp.”
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And a fact that might be music to the ears of Becker and other Jewish professionals, 80% of OHC respondents believed the incentive "positively" affected their family’s connection to the sponsoring organization. Becker says, “Our job at the Jewish Federation is to support a flourishing Jewish community, and we do it by raising money to support Jewish programs, but also to make them more accessible to our community.”
And while some grant programs are need based, an important distinction, says Orlow, is that One Happy Camper is not. “One Happy Camper is about lowering the barrier. We have many different strategies for helping camps accommodate different needs so that for example kids can be on varsity soccer and still go to camp.” He adds that there is another focus too. “The other part of our work is raising the bar. How are we creating better impact, more return on investment for every camper. And our staff is out there right now planning it.”
But from a practical standpoint, families who utilize grants and incentives report reaping the rewards throughout the year. Gorodetsky says, “I think when people think about it maybe they think it helps just one type of family. But it helps a lot of different types of families. It’s brilliant.”
