Why Send Your kids?
A growing number of alumni and others from beyond the south are sending their kids to Jacobs. These families are motivated to do so for a range of reasons:
- They have Southern roots, and want their children to feel a connection to the South.
- They have Jacobs roots, and want to have shared camp memories with their children.
- In a major metropolitan area, it’s easy for kids to take their Judaism for granted. At Jacobs they spend the summer with kids who definitely don’t. It makes their kids stronger Jews.
- At Jacobs they get to spend the summer with a completely different group of kids than at home – giving them the freedom to be themselves, and a break from those local social pressures.
- There are plenty of large Jewish camps out there – with 400, 500, or more campers – but few small ones like Jacobs. Small camps provide a different level of personal attention – for example, every staff member knows every camper, and vice versa – and a truly intergenerational experience – as we eat together, play together & pray together, our campers have access to many Jewish role models and friends.
- They recognize that Jacobs needs their support; there are plenty of Jewish kids to fill Jewish camps in the rest of the country, but with the limited Jewish population in the South, out-of-region campers are vital.
Plus, isn’t dropping off or picking up your child from camp a great excuse to visit family and friends from down South?
Alumni Families
Stay connected with Jacobs and allow your children to experience the Jacobs’ magic.
Eddie & Macy (Kalmanson) Widofsky, Manchester, CT: We thought about a Reform Camp in New England, since it’s so close to us, but we couldn’t break the Jacobs tradition. Our son has had an absolute blast! He & we both love that we can share our joint experiences there; and, it’s so cool that he’s getting to know so many children of our old friends.
Julie (Berliner) Bell, Lafayette, CA: Knowing about the camp – the staff, the programming, the wonderful Jewish environment – made the extra work of getting them there worth it. I now have a shared experience with my kids that has added so much to our bond! When they talk about camp – which they do often! – they know that I “get it.” In my opinion, Jacobs the BEST camp – and my kids feel the same way!
Stephanie (Sklar) Wolfson, Bell Canyon, CA: My summers at Jacobs were the most formative part of my childhood. I wanted my kids to feel the same way, now I share that unique & special feeling with them. I also wanted my boys who were growing up in Southern California, where it is to be Jewish, to spend their summers with kids who can’t take their Judaism for granted. They have an even richer connection to the Jewish people because of it.
Spend Summers with extended family
Mimi (Kaplan) Levy, Saint Louis, MO: At first it was about our children getting to spend time with their Louisiana cousins. But it quickly evolved into Jacobs being their camp that they had to return to each year. Through the years, they mention all the great things about camp, and how they really like having school friends and camp friends. One summer, we choose to take our kids to Disney instead of sending them to camp; our very dissapointed daughter told us: “Disney World isn’t the happiest place on earth – Jacobs is!”
Meet new friends
David Weintraub, Alpharetta, GA: Why do we send our kids to Mississippi when there are great camps in Georgia? Because at Jacobs they get to spend the summer experiencing new things with new & different people. Both of our sons go to school, synagogue, & play sports with the same kids all year long, and have with some of these same kids for years. When their friends go to camps with kids they already know, the same cliques and stereotypes emerge. But when our kids go to Jacobs, they meet and interact with different kids on a completely different level, and have the opportunity to take a vacation from the social pressures they deal with the other 11 months of the year. It’s been great for them!