JCRS funds record number of campers

For summer 2005, the Jewish Children¹s Regional Service has provided “need based” funding to a record 257 Southern Jewish youth to attend overnight camp. The campers are residents of seven southern states, including Alabama and Mississippi, and must attend a camp sponsored by a Jewish non-profit organization.

“This is the only comprehensive Jewish camp scholarship program of its kind,” explained JCRS executive director Ned Goldberg. “These Jewish youth attend 30 different camps each summer, and over the last 10 years, have attended approximately half of the 120 Jewish overnight camps in the United States. This camp scholarship program is over 50 years old and has served
many thousands of Jewish youth.

“The Jewish camp experience is proven to enhance Jewish identity and the JCRS has countless adult success stories who are today active in Jewish life as a result of attending camp when they were young. For example, a number of lay and professional leaders in the South were once aided as youth by the JCRS,” he added.

To further emphasize this point, Goldberg pointed to the current co-chair of the camp scholarship committee, New Orleans tax attorney Bruce Miller, who received JCRS scholarship aid. In 2004, the speakers at the JCRS annual meeting were comprised of a camp director, a Hillel director, a synagogue administrator, two Jewish educators, and a federation executive who had all received camp, college, and/or special needs assistance from the JCRS as
youth. Today, they work across the South in various professional capacities.

More information: www.jcrsnola.org, or (800) 729.5277.