Brrrr, it’s cold outside- wasn’t that the start to a color war cheer for Blizzard Blue? Well tonight, we are expecting 30 degrees Fahrenheit (yes that’s below freezing) and it is ridiculously cold as I type this. Fortunately, the office and my cabin is heated, but the school teachers who are here preparing for the students arrival tomorrow aren’t as lucky!

This past week has been crazzyyy, but in a good way. Last Monday through Wednesday, a middle school Gold Team (the high achievers/athletes) was here with about 90 students and teachers. On Wednesday they went whitewater rafting (in wet suits of course), while we welcomed a school of 450 from the Philly area. The hours were insane- breakfast at 7AM and bedtime for me and Matt was well after 11PM. We were busy working on a food order for the week and other things.

We also had more staff members arrive- Chris Kemp and Alex Dean (both are Hondas instructors from last summer) and tonight a new staff member will be joining our team! We now have a team of 16 counselors and 7 kitchen staff running the entire camp. From maintenance to running activities to cleaning cabins in camp, its organized chaos!

This past weekend, we welcomed our largest weekend ever! Over 650 people were here. Twice a year, Aunt Terri donates our facility to the Special Olympic Athletes in the Philadelphia Suburb areas. They brought up about 100 young adults who had an absolute blast. From playing beach volleyball, hiking around the lake, climbing the wall, boating in our lake, and doing arts and crafts to watching a movie and having a prince and princess ball in the Senior Rec Hall in the evenings, they were so excited to be here. In addition to Special Olympics, we hosted a Girl Scout Troop from NJ and two YMCA groups as well. We used every cabin in camp and it was busy! All had a good time, despite the high winds and rain last night.

Speaking of last night, I was invited to a camper’s Bar Mitzvah- Matt Faden (Mazel Tov Matt)! It was a great party and I got to see many of camp’s head staff members. A great time was had by all, including myself, but the midnight – 2AM drive back to camp certainly wasn’t the highlight of my weekend! This morning, I was up at 730AM for breakfast, so I am quite tired as you can imagine. See the pictures below from the party!

I hope you all understand that I have to go and finish a few things, but I will try to post more often now that camp is truly right around the corner.  I will have a video 411 soon as well, as requested by some of the campers I saw at Matt’s Bar Mitzvah (Goodman, Small Fry, J Mitch) just to name a few!

However, first I have a really special video for all of you to watch. Please click below for a really special treat with more details about the upcoming CANADENSIS TODAY Show!

Click here to watch the NEW Canadensis Today Promo!

 

Hey All!

While I was going out for dinner tonight on Long Island I ran into Sharky! (Who is an big fan of Eric’s blog)

Hey Blogland! It’s JCal blogging today, filling in for Forti who is busy getting ready for his big move to camp next week. I wanted to let you guys know about something that will be coming up beginning on Friday of this week. Forti and I will be trading places on the blog for about 2 weeks. Of course Eric will still put an update in while he settles into camp but many of the blog posts will come from me. I will be traveling across the Atlantic for two weeks to visit Poland and Israel. I will keep you all updated via Eric’s blog so check back beginning Friday, April 17th!

Hey Blogland! Sorry for the lack of postings this past week, but I took a few days off for the Passover Holiday. Long seders at the Forti household, but it was nice to be with my extended family! Things at work are absolutely hectic right now. Of course it is to be expected as camp for me is literally just around the corner- 7 days to be exact.

Yesterday (Sunday), Brian Krug, Programming Director Roy Faden, and I met the entire day to discuss the schedules for this coming summer. We made some changes, including a new Senior Choice period (more details to follow, but I promise you it’s exciting) as well as more availability in cooking, amongst other enhancements. I got to see the Fadens and the Jacobsons before they headed out to the movies, which was a nice surprise! They are doing well and are so excited for camp.

Updates on the water around camp- Senior Side and Freshman Hill have water! All of the hot water heaters in those cabins are lit, the water is flowing, and any cracked pipes have been fixed. It has been quite a challenge this year due to temperatures over night falling below freezing, which can cause the pipes to freeze. Hopefully it will warm up the next few days so we can turn on the kitchen and lower boys camp. Actually, a few cabins in lower boys camp are already on as well because believe it or not the water for 3 lower boys bunks comes from Senior side underneath the lake! At camp, we have well water and there are wells spread throughout camp. The main well comes from near the Art Center/Low Ropes area and that feeds the majority of camp. There is also a well in the parking lot, near the girls CIT cabin, Senior Boys side, and underneath my house on freshman hill! For some reason, the well on Senior side has a pipe running underneath the lake in order to feed lower boys 3 cabins. The rest of the water comes from the main well that I mentioned before.

Too much information? Well its GREAT trivia to use for the “Panel of Experts” at lineup one morning when I am not there! Make sure Matt Unger and I are NOT there and ask a question about the wells or water lines…my guess is that the “experts” made up of the groupleaders/head counselors will laugh and look at you like you have 10 heads- go ahead and try it!

Otherwise, things are shaping up nicely at camp. The pools will be drained soon, cleaned from the winter, painted and filled with fresh water. The leaves have already been raked from the grove, main office, and dining hall areas, but a lot more raking needs to be done! The kitchen staff arrive at camp on Monday, April 27 to begin cleaning the dining hall and reopening it as we welcome our first group and CITs that very next weekend.

A lot to do, but it will all get done and summer will be here before we know it!

P.S.- Will Armon jumped out of a plane this past weekend skydiving and lives to tell about it! Enjoy the picture…

 

More Info Coming Soon!

Click here to view Eric’s vlog from camp!

This past weekend was my last “quiet” weekend before I move up to camp! So I did a lot of rest and relaxation, while enjoying the beautiful weather on Sunday afternoon.

I wanted to share a photo with you from a Sunday morning volunteering event that I participated in. One Sunday each month, the Jewish Relief Agency (JRA) opens up a warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia to volunteers to assist in packaging food for needy Jewish families in the Philadelphia area. Over 700 volunteers turned up to help package the food, including myself, alumn Max Blum, and camper Nolan Gardner. After preparing the boxes, which this month contained Kosher for Passover foods, we set out on a delivery route with 24 boxes loaded in my SUV! There were over 2,400 families that benefitted this month in the Philadelphia area from this one day of community service.

Next fall, I am hoping to organize a Camp Canadensis group to participate in this together, so I hope many of you will join in this fun and worthwhile cause.

Below is a picture of Max Blum and me each holding a box of food.

 

I will be up at camp Tuesday night and Wednesday before the Passover seders and will try to snap some shots around camp this week as we continue to turn the water on and prepare for camp!

Marshall Weinstein: Love the videos and the blog! Makes me feel more connected to camp when I live so far away.

What do you think? Let us know! Email us at editor@canadensis.com.

Brooke Appelbaum sent in this picture of her dog “Lewie” with his Canadensis gear!

Hello from Canadensis! I guess you will have to get used to hearing that opening, as I am moving up to camp within the next few weeks. Today I am writing to you from my cozy, warm house on freshman hill!

Last night Matt and I drove up and arrived at camp around 10:45 PM. I have to confess that we made a few stops along the way at both Target and Staples as they had great sales on some items and we needed to buy office supplies for camp! After our shopping adventure, dinner at Friday’s, and stopping for fuel, we finally arrived in the mountains.

This morning, we left camp around 7AM to meet with the Pocono Chamber of Commerce. Camp Canadensis is a member of the Chamber and we had to go and videotape a  free “TV show spot” for local television introducing camp to the community. So Matt drove to Stroudsburg to the meeting and I wrote a 1-minute script as a commercial for camp. We showed up and they told us it’s a 15-second intro. Aaahh, how am I supposed to explain Camp Canadensis in 15 seconds! The show will air in May and will also be on the internet, so I will be sure to post a link on the blog.

After the Chamber meeting, we ran a few errands in town and then returned to camp. After unloading the car it was time for the annual redecoration of our Operations office and clean-up. We setup Sam’s desk , moved a few things around, and then sat down at our desks to do some computer work, make phone calls, etc. At the exact same time, Matt and I looked at each other and said WOW, another winter has passed and it feels like we just left! Of course, we were missing Sam (who by the way is excited that his desk is now on “my side” of the office and he is sort of facing me full time now) as well as missing all of the campers and staff. It really felt like we never left and we were so excited to be back up at camp once again.

Now I am sitting in my house, doing some laundry, and watching TV. Tomorrow will be another day at camp and we plan on checking on all of the renovated cabins, the new canteen, and check on a few other things around camp. Tomorrow night we will head back to Philly, but this time only for about 2 weeks, until we move back up to camp full time!

I hope everyone is doing well and stay tuned for a Vlog (video) posting from camp tomorrow.

Click here for a special message from Will Armon

Coming to our web-site this summer! 

Stay tuned to the blog for more information and new vlogs!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TEASER FOR CANADENSIS TODAY

Click here to view a video of Eric Forti on location in Upstate New York