BMD Kicks Off With Nightime Bowling!

By Yehuda “No ‘H'” Fenton

It’s 9:25 pm, and the Bochurim of B.M.D. are winding down. After the first hectic day of camp everyone is ready to go to sleep. The loud speaker keeps the bochurim informed as to how long they have until lights out, the counselors get ready for bed, and it is unanimously decided that it is highly unlikely that all 65 campers can take a shower within five minutes.
Suddenly a voice can be heard over the loudspeaker, testifying to the fact that we have all had an amazing first day. And to end off the amazing day, Head Counselors Shimon Gorkin and Shmulik Moskowitz say, there will be…wait for it…BOWLING!!!!

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Everyone’s out of bed! Sweatshirts are grabbed, flashlights pulled out, shoes jammed on, and we’re off to the buses! We get to the bowling alley ready for the amazing night that is to come!

Every Bochur chooses the ball of his choice and the games begin! Sixteen lanes, 96 bowlers and one awesome time! Strikes, spares, and the occasional gutter ball punctuate the evening. One camper even beat the odds by winning an iPod at the arcade game!

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(Editor. The highest score is still a matter of great contention and can only be truly resolved once tapes of the night are examined.)

It was an incredible night and a truly wonderful beginning to camp at Machneh Gan Yisroel B.M.D.!

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Click here for more pictures!

Camp Staff Have a Ball

Camp Staff Have a BallStaff members of Camp Gan Israel of Parksville and Camp L’man Achai had an actual ball during a training session.

By COLlive reporter

Where is the best place for staff training? In camp!

With the latest push by staff members on taking the summer seriously, two Lubavitch overnight camps invited life and leadership coach Rabbi Shmuly Rothman to their Upstate New York grounds.

Camp Gan Israel in Parksville and Camp L’man Achai hosted Rothman for intense staff training on their camp grounds, ahead of the campers’ arrival.

“This is a huge step in the right direction for our overnight camps,” Rothman told COLlive.com. “In traditional secular overnight camps, staff spend a week to 10 days on camp grounds training for their positions.”

On Monday, June 25, a full day program took place in Parksville, the first overnight Chabad boys camp, and participants quickly learned that serious business can be fun too.

The training program began with an 8-foot colorful beach ball. Staff members were told lie in two rows and pass the ball from the beginning to the end of the line. Within seconds all the staff were interacting, laughing, having fun and supporting each other.

Rothman then moved on to discussing important topics such as “nurturing unzere kinder,” personal goal setting and internal inspiration to be a good counselor all day and every day, the skills and tools for viewing each and every camper as Hashem’s only child and positive discipline and “friend-raising.”

“Having Shmuly on camp grounds while the counselors were settling in made all the difference,” said Rabbi Nachman Dov Vichnin, senior Head Counselor at CGI Parksville who arranged for the program. “Staff had ample time to ask their specific questions, and get the support they needed. It was total ‘tachlis.'”

The many hours of training were interspersed with brain teasers, ice breakers, games and initiatives that put staff up close and interacting with each other.

Rothman, a resident of Pittsburgh, spent the next day at Camp L’man Achai, an overnight camp for Jewish boys ages 8-16, located in the town of Andes in Delaware County, NY.

As a camp geared for boys from homes that are not observant, Rothman spoke about sensitivity to campers coming from broken homes and who have suffered the loss of a loved one.

And in addition to topics raised in Parksville, he discussed healthy communication and relationships between staff, head staff and campers and how to set needed boundaries between staff and campers.

“The staff really appreciated it,” said Rabbi Yitzchok Steinmetz, director of Camp L’man Achai. “I’ve heard only great feedback and I’m sure it will make a huge difference.”

Staff were heard commenting, “The games were great! I got to meet fellow staff in a fun way! I never knew so many of the counselors by name so early on.”

To get the most out of the time allotted, counselors from both camps viewed Shmuly’s newly released staff training DVD on the bus ride up to camp.

The payoff was huge says Rothman, “By the time I got started, the counselors had a very good primer and were actually quoting the DVD training throughout the day.”

Camp Gan Israel staff list 2012 / 5772

 

HEAD COUNSELOR Nachman D. Wichnin
HEAD COUNSELOR Levi Shemtov
HEAD COUNSELOR Avremi Wolff
HEAD COUNSELOR Nochum Schapiro
LEARNING DIRECTOR Shazi Perman
LEARNING DIRECTOR Menachem Altein
BMD DIRECTOR Shmulik Moscowitz
BMD DIRECTOR Shimon Gorkin
HEAD WAITER Shmuly Schapiro
HEAD WAITER Levi Weingarten
NOD HEAD Ari Raskin
ECAD Eli Lipskar
Asst ECAD Mendel Avtzon
BMD ECAD/Asst ECAD 2 Elozor Glick
HEAD LIFE GUARD Levi Pekar
EMT Mendy Veil
EMT Shmuel Dovid Sandhaus
EMT Yitzi Shubov
GM Berel Lison
GM Dovi Emmanuel – N
Asst GM Shmulik Shuchat
VAN DRIVER Chesky Weiss – N
VAN DRIVER BY Gancz – N
YOUTH CORE Mayer Gurkov – L
OFFICE MANAGER Yisroel Cohen – L
ASST OFF. MNGR/SPORTS Mendy Gitter – N
CANTEEN MANAGER Shmaya Futerfas
1COUNSELOR Mendel Bergstien – N
2COUNSELOR Leibel Bendet – N
3COUNSELOR Baruch Feldman – N
4COUNSELOR Mendy Harlig – N
5COUNSELOR Hershey Weinstein – L
6COUNSELOR Mendel Barber – L
7COUNSELOR Mendy Lebovic – L
8COUNSELOR Sholom Tauber – L
9COUNSELOR Mendy Zakon – L
10COUNSELOR Yisroel Edery – L
11COUNSELOR Levi Shteimits – N
12COUNSELOR Mendel Lerer – N
13COUNSELOR Moshe Denburg – N
14COUNSELOR Shmuly Evens – N
15COUNSELOR Moshe Kalmenson – L
16COUNSELOR Mendy Heber – L
17COUNSELOR Yoseph Epstien – N
18COUNSELOR Yudi Meltzer – N
19COUNSELOR Mendy Kapaluchnik – N
20COUNSELOR Chaim Samuels – N
21COUNSELOR Ezra Wiemer – N
22COUNSELOR Mendel Galperin – N
24COUNSELOR Sholom Domnitz
25COUNSELOR Moshe Lipsker – L
26COUNSELOR Dovi Berkowitz – L
27COUNSELOR sholom brook – L
28COUNSELOR shmuel levin – L
29COUNSELOR Zevi Rosenblum – L
30COUNSELOR Yisrolik Mochkin – L
31COUNSELOR Yoisef Bogomilsky – S
32COUNSELOR Mendy Kirshenberg – S
33COUNSELOR Mendel Zunts – N
34COUNSELOR Mendel Treitel – N
35COUNSELOR Shneur Polter – A
36COUNSELOR Yaakov Gurkov – N
37COUNSELOR Nachi Smetana – ND
38COUNSELOR Menachem Elgarten – N
39COUNSELOR Mendy Minsky – N
40COUNSELOR Berel Kesselman – L
41COUNSELOR Koppel Silberberg – L
42COUNSELOR Mendel Raskin – N
1LEARNING TEACHER Mendy Yarmove – S
2LEARNING TEACHER Yitzchok Zirkind – S
3LEARNING TEACHER Michoel Saul – S
4LEARNING TEACHER yossi zerkind – S
5LEARNING TEACHER Yehuda Raiport – S
6LEARNING TEACHER Yossi feldman – S
7LEARNING TEACHER Mendy Rubenshtein – S
8LEARNING TEACHER Moshi Levinson – S
9LEARNING TEACHER Yosef Y. Mapur – S
10LEARNING TEACHER aharon shpilman – S
11LEARNING TEACHER Mend Markowitz – S
12LEARNING TEACHER Moshe Kroll – S
13LEARNING TEACHER Avrohom Waren – S
14LEARNING TEACHER Chaim Shneur- S
15LEARNING TEACHER Shneur Vogel – S
16LEARNING TEACHER Levi Godlfarb- S
17LEARNING TEACHER Tzemach Simon – S
18LEARNING TEACHER Mendel Vogel – S
19LEARNING TEACHER Mendy Tzippel – S
20LEARNING TEACHER Binyomen Warmflash – S
21LEARNING TEACHER Menachem Lazerof – A
22LEARNING TEACHER Aron Bergman – S
23LEARNING TEACHER Leibel Chazanovitch – S
24LEARNING TEACHER Zevi Shusterman – S
25LEARNING TEACHER Tany Krasniansky – S
26LEARNING TEACHER Boruch Tzfasman – S
27LEARNING TEACHER Mendel Katz
38LEARNING TEACHER Baruch Steinmetz 1st month – L
Tutor Sruli Freedman
Tutor Mendel Kugel – N
Tutor Moshe Banda – S
CANTEEN ASST Meir Ciment
CANTEEN ASST Mendel Jacobson – L
CANTEEN ASST Mendel Wienstien – N
CANTEEN ASST Meyer Newman
CANTEEN ASST/BOOKIE Levi Fogelmen
N.A.D./ MBP Mendel Blesofsky
ASST N.A.D./Shadow Eli Israel
MBP Asst Sholom Sheingarten – L
SPORTS DIRECTOR Eli Lobenstein
ASST SPORT DIRECTOR Levi Rosenfeld – N
COMPUTER ROOM Avrohom Mishulovin – L
O.D. Meir Gershovitz
KITCHEN STAFF Mendy Levitan
KITCHEN STAFF Dovid Deray
KITCHEN STAFF Boruch Wilansky
KITCHEN STAFF Efriam Shpindler
KITCHEN STAFF Yitzi Chriqui
KITCHEN STAFF Mendel Sobel
Arts and Crafts Shmulik Stell
Arts and Crafts Leizer Introlegator
LG Levi Goldfarb LP
LG Tzemach Simon LP
LG Mendel Harlig – LP
LG Mendel Neuwirth – LP
LG Mendel Gitler
LG Mendy Spalter
LG Mendy Edelmen
Survival Yosef Shmuel Serebryanski
HC/LD asst. Menachem Wolfe – L
Ice Cream/Seforim Menachem Eber
Video Mendel Soufer – L
Truck Driver Zalmy Neparstek
BMD COUNSELOR Avi Welis
BMD COUNSELOR Shmuli Rapp
BMD COUNSELOR Choni Cohen
BMD COUNSELOR Menachem Lifshitz
BMD COUNSELOR Reuvein Duray
BMD COUNSELOR Nisanel Borenstien
1BMD LT Yehuda Fenton
2BMD LT Mendel Mitz
3BMD LT Mendy Ross
4BMD LT Michoel Fishman
5BMD LT Dovie Gopin
6BMD LT Zevi Haler
WAITER Yosef Yitzchok Brook
WAITER Mendel Chein
WAITER Jacob Delukovitz
WAITER Dovid Feigenson
WAITER Chaim Feldman
WAITER Shimmy Russell
WAITER Yisroel Malamud
WAITER Yaakov Yisroel Raskin
WAITER Mendel Rimler
WAITER Eli Barber
WAITER Moshe Wilhelm
WAITER Noach Zeiler
WAITER Mendel Litzman
WAITER Yehuda Gorkin
COUNSELORS
Edry Yisroel
Feldman Baruch

First Days of Camp!!

It was an exciting day when the buses pulled in to Gan Yisrael, carrying hundreds of excited campers. Others had already been brought by their parents, but one and all, they were thrilled for another amazing summer at Machane Gan Yisrael!

As things settled down, all the campers made their way into the Shul for speeches. The Head Counselors spoke about how exciting camp will be this year, and how much learning and fun will take place here. Then, the campers were split into their bunks, and were joined by their counselors, who came – some yelling happily, some running and screaming – to the front of the Shul to lead their bunks to their bunkhouses.

The first full day of camp was Wednesday, and it was back to the Shul for the Learning Directors speech about the excellent learning program this year. Then, campers were split (again) into their learning classes and it was off to the first learning class of the summer!

Wednesday was also the first day of activities, with campers playing basketball, kickball, hockey, football and much more. There was a speech from the Head Lifeguard on safety, after which there was also swimming!

All in all, an exciting start to an exciting summer!