Dropping some NSC News

With autumn weather upon us, it would be easy to thing that things have been quiet at camp. While the lodge may be quiet and the grass is growing tall on the athletic fields, the work of camp never stops. There are lots of things that need to be done to keep camp in tip top shape and once family camp ended our maintenance crew along with several of our staff took on several projects. Among these was painting the floors in several cabins, sandblasting and staining Mike Hall and other general repair work.

Two projects that our caretakers Tom and Todd have been working on will certainly make all of our campers more comfortable. Our senior village campers will be excited to know about upgrades to the wash house in the villa. Tom completely gutted the shower area, removing the old stall dividers and paneling. Once finished, the shower area will resemble our J Village shower area with new stalls and walls. Oh ya... and we'll also have more stalls and tankless waterheaters to ensure that they won't run out of hot water. 

The Fieldhouse isn't the only new structure going up in that area of camp. As part of that project, we're also adding a small outhouse. Right next to the Fieldhouse will be a small outhouse which will be great for campers and staff that are at riflery, archery, the athletic fields and even climbing. 

You can check out some of the handywork of Tom and Todd and we'll be sure to send more updates of these and other projects going on in the Northwoods.

Camp Moves Me 2016

Join Team North Star and help raise money to send kids to camp!

2016 Team North Star Members

Andy Shlensky

Max Goldberg

Dan Lichtenstein

Nathan Margrett

Max Rosenfeld 
Oliver Rockman
Zach Blumenfeld 
Chad Prater 
Dylan Jacobs
James Freedman
Cameron Beltzman
Jaden Beltzman
Adam Beltzman
Rachel Beltzman 
Alyssa Shlensky
Jami Shlensky
Kacy Lebby 
Betsy Cohn Kane
Hannah Shapiro
Max Emmerman 
Benji Richheimer
Susan Richheimer
Gabe Richheimer
Simon Richheimer
Noah Richheimer
Todd Richheimer
Michelle Soble
Jonah Rane 
Harry Gottleib
Jack Schocket 
Spencer Kent
Brady Daitch 
John Lee
Sponsor them here!

Are you on Team North Star? email dan@northstarcamp.com

For the third year camp folks from across the world will spend the month of October working hard to raise money to send kids to camp. Camp Moves Me is an effort on the part of the American Camp Association to get people moving and get kids in need to camp. We're also hoping that for the third year, North Star remains on top as the Camp Champion!

Here's how Camp Moves Me works... Participants have to run, walk, bike or do other physical activity throughout the month of October. Upon creating their registration page, they commit to do a specific amount of physical activity over the course of the month. They they ask their family and friends to support them by pledging a donation based on the amount of activity that they do! So if you're already a regular runner, walker, biker or do other regular exercise, join in and see that activity help get kids to camp!

In 2016, money raised by Team North Star will go to the Camp for All Kids Foundation! Camp for All Kids helps send kids from underserved communities to North Star as well as Camp Birch Trail, Chippewa Ranch Camp, Camp Kamaji and Camp Timberlane. The Camp for All Kids Foundation has been North Star's scholarship fund for many years and we're excited to see the organization benefited this year.

We need your help to see North Star remain the Camp Champion in 2016! Any and all campers, staff, alumni and family members can Join Team North Star by going to: https://acacamps.rallyup.com/TeamFullPage/a32ac1

Then reach out to all of your friends, family and co-workers to have them pledge to support you. You can also donate directly to support Team North Star if you aren't able to participate by clicking the green "Donate" button on our team page. 

Camp Parents, please help us by telling your camper about Camp Moves Me and encourage them to help give the gift of camp that they've been so lucky to be a part of!

Settle Up Success!

Last month I wrote to you about the North Star Settle Up Challenge, a gift matching campaign that invited our camp alumni to match donations made by our current staff from their camp paychecks at the end of the summer for the benefit of Camp for All Kids.

I am very proud to announce that 60 North Star staff members donated a total of $2,934.00 and that 40 North Star alumni pledged matching donations totaling over who donated a total of $22,000, resulting in the Settle Up Challenge raising more than $25,000!

Thank you to our staff members and alumni for your generosity!  The funds raised will support Camp for All Kids camperships for kids from underserved communities to attend North Star and the other partner camps.

There is still time to contribute to the Challenge! Donations are being accepted through the end of September.

If you have pledged money to the Settle Up Challenge or want to make a pledge, you can “settle up” online by clicking here (designate gift to North Star and write in second box “Settle Up Challenge”)  or send a check written to Camp for All Kids, P.O. Box 50149, St. Louis, MO 63105 (please write in the memo line “Settle Up Challenge.”)  All donations are tax-deductible. You can learn more about Camp for All Kids at www.campforallkids.org.

Thank you again to our great staff and alumni for your donations and making the Settle Up Challenge a success!

Alumni: The Settle Up Challenge

Vickie and I hope you are enjoying your summer. Even though there is always “plenty of camping left,” it’s hard to believe there is only one more week left of second session. It’s been an amazing summer at camp with some big new additions. We built the brand new Fieldhouse, an indoor recreation facility that has forever changed rainy days and villa nights. We cleaned out the old dump and turned that into a new and improved archery range. We built a double sided bouldering wall with an incline, and channeled Lou by adding boxing back to the program.

And though some things change, camp remains the same. Our last Friday Night Service even featured the music of Bob Feller and Don Gibson, playing with Jon Sherman’s son Noah.

Next week I’ll also be settling up with the hard-working counselors and staff members who make North Star such as special place. Lou and Leb have long asked the staff to “Remember the Scholarship Fund” in that settle up meeting, and I have carried on that tradition. The staff have been making a donation from their salaries to Camp for All Kids, the successor to the North Star Scholarship Fund. Many of you were counselors at North Star so you know that giving back part of a modest camp salary is quite generous for these guys. I match these donations, and last year a camp alum also made a matching contribution, thereby tripling each staff members donation.

Camp for All Kids promotes and facilitates racial diversity by sending kids from underserved communities to North Star and four other summer camps. These kids not only make lifelong friendships and experience the magic of camp, they also contribute so much to the camp culture. This summer, we were lucky to have 20 campers through this program from J-1 to Pine Manor.

This year, to further incentivize staff donations and send more kids to camp, we are announcing the North Star Settle Up Challenge.

The Settle Up Challenge is a gift matching campaign that invites you, our camp alumni, to match donations made by our current staff from their camp paychecks at the end of the summer. This is a great way for North Star alumni to model their philanthropic behavior for our current staff. Our current staff hear stories, read your names on plaques, see your photos in the Lodge and feel the history of camp every day. It’s people like you who they look up to lead the way.

The Settle Up challenge will increase the impact of each of our current staff members. If they know that their $20 (for example) may turn into $200 because we have 10 alumni matching them, that provides even more incentive for them, and we can send more deserving kids to camp! You can make your pledge by simply emailing me with your commitment. You can set a cap on your matching gift. In previous years, the staff donations have totaled about $1,000. We are asking for a minimum of $500 from a matching gift.

We will total up the donations from current camp staff and contact you during the week of August 15 to tell you the amount raised by the staff. You can then go to the Camp for All Kids website and make your tax-deductible matching gift.

North Star has been the heart and soul of Camp for All Kids since its inception. Our alumni are consistently the most generous donors and active participants. Paul “Nate” Nathanson and Rob Porter have served as co-presidents for the past six years. Moreover, four of the five Camp for All Kids partner camps are owned by North Star alum: North Star, Birch Trail (Gabe Chernov, Richard and Barbara’s son), Chippewa Ranch Camp (Cliff Lissner, who purchased camp from Tom Adler), and Timberlane (Mike Cohen). The fifth, Kamaji, was purchased last year by Kat Martin and Jason Nelson from North Star alums and Camp for All Kids founders Mike and Kathy Jay. I believe that the Settle Up Challenge is a great way to further instill on our current camp staff two of the distinguishing characteristics of North Star alumni – your generosity and your dedication to make the world a better place.

Please contact me if you have any questions and, as always, Remember The Scholarship Fund!

Welcome to Second Session!

Now that we are a couple days into second session, it is time for an update on how the first few days are going. After the busses rolled into camp on Sunday, we immediately got underway with unpacking and then challenge games.  challenge games are when cabins compete with each other in a sport.  We do this the first night in order to get everyone moving and getting to know each other.  After challenge games, every cabin had a candlelight ceremony where the campers expressed their goals for the summer. 

On Monday we had our swim tests and physicals.  Each cabin went down to swim point and took a swim test to make sure they were ready for waterfront activities and the cabin trip.    They also went down to the health center to get checked out.  On Monday night we had a game of all-camp capture the flag to finish off the game. 

On Tuesday, we had our first full day of activities.  The campers signed up for six three-day projects for the first week of camp.  After lunch, we had another challenge games and an organized free period. 

On Thursday, we will have our first cruiser day of the session.  Cruiser day is a day where the entire cabin stays together and does various activities.

Welcome to Second Session!

Now that we are a couple days into second session, it is time for an update on how the first few days are going. After the busses rolled into camp on Sunday, we immediately got underway with unpacking and then challenge games.  challenge games are when cabins compete with each other in a sport.  We do this the first night in order to get everyone moving and getting to know each other.  After challenge games, every cabin had a candlelight ceremony where the campers expressed their goals for the summer. 

On Monday we had our swim tests and physicals.  Each cabin went down to swim point and took a swim test to make sure they were ready for waterfront activities and the cabin trip.    They also went down to the health center to get checked out.  On Monday night we had a game of all-camp capture the flag to finish off the game. 

On Tuesday, we had our first full day of activities.  The campers signed up for six three-day projects for the first week of camp.  After lunch, we had another challenge games and an organized free period. 

On Thursday, we will have our first cruiser day of the session.  Cruiser day is a day where the entire cabin stays together and does various activities.

Second Session is Underway!

The second session of North Star’s 72nd summer is officially underway! When we got off the bus, the staff and the 8-week campers were cheering like crazy to welcome our new campers.

It was a beautiful sunny day and it dried out the puddles from last week’s rain. As the boys introduced themselves to one another, it was easy to see that North Star really does have the nicest boys in the world. Even on the bus, the campers were so supportive of one another as they talked about all of the fun they’re going to have, the special events coming up, the camp traditions and the friends they are going to make. We gathered around the flagpole to announce the cabins, and a lot of cheering, high fiving and hugging ensued. From there, the boys headed to their cabins to get unpacked, and that is where the relationship building begins. It is our expectation that by the time everyone goes to bed, they feel that they have one counselor that they are comfortable waking up with a problem or a question and one friend that they are excited to play with in the morning. Because that is when camp starts to feel like home.

The boys are now unpacking and new campers are receiving a tour of camp. There is a lot of excitement as they head out by the athletic fields and get their first glimpse of the new Bouldering Wall, the new and improved Archery Range, and the brand new NSC Fieldhouse! The bouldering wall is now double sided with the back side being inverted by about 15-degrees, a great challenge for our advanced climbers. The new archery range will more than double the capacity of the old range, allowing more boys to get more opportunities for practice. And the Fieldhouse has already revolutionized rainy days at North Star, as we can play giant games of basketball, dodgeball, floor hockey, indoor soccer and more in this new addition. By the time they go to sleep tonight, they'll have played games with their cabins and met some of the other guys their age as well.

Dinner this evening will be burgers, fries and jello, plus the ever present salad bar and Sun Butter and jelly. There will be vegetarian burgers available for those that prefer, and Gluten free options for those that need it. And of course brownies for dessert. Immediately following dinner, the campers will choose their first week's activities.

The evening activities will be followed by the candlelight ceremonies, where each cabin will have a meeting led by their counselors. They will share their goals and expectations for the summer, while continuing to get to know one another. This will be the first of many cabin discussions that are an important part of the "team" building goals that we have for each cabin group, and helps develop the strong sense of community that we strive for at camp.

At our Friday Night Service, counselor Jacob Sherman gave an amazing sermonette about character and what that means at camp. Jacob defined character as the gap between who we are and who we want to be. At camp, we work close that gap by talking about what it means to be a good friend and a good person. Between Friday Night Services, cabin campfires, weekly check-ins and the rest of our program, our goal is that every boy leaves camp more mindful of their own growth, strengths and values. The whole program at camp is set up to make sure that not only do the boys have a blast, but that they are able to grow, learn to overcome obstacles and develop real self-confidence.

Tomorrow the kids will have a busy day as Vickie and our medical team check in the boys. They will take a swim test and find time to play several games of dodgeball. The 8-weekers will he headed out on some great day trips. Evening program will be our first game of All-Camp Capture the Flag. And on Tuesday, we'll be right into regular activities. The boys will have their first three instructional periods that they chose tonight.

Thank you for trusting us with your boys!