Dear Ramah in the Rockies Community,
Over the last six weeks, our team has heard feedback from hundreds of chalutzim (campers), parents, and tzevet (staff) and read the comments received by email and in our camper satisfaction survey. We are grateful for the insight and suggestions you shared, and we use your feedback to continue to improve our program year after year. Below are some of the key themes that emerged—strengths and areas for growth—and our plans moving forward.
TWO THUMBS UP: OUR SUCCESSES
Peanut Butter (making George Washington Carver proud)
This was one of the biggest hits of the summer! We are constantly questioning our policies and practices to ensure we’re making the best decisions for our community. We don’t think “because this is the way it’s always been” is a great answer. Last year, we started looking at our policy of not allowing peanuts and tree nuts and realized that we had very few chalutzim and tzevet (2 to be exact in 2023 and 2024) who are allergic to peanuts, so it made sense to revisit this issue. In consultation with our medical committee and the parents of campers with peanut allergies, we introduced peanuts and peanut butter into camp to increase the availability and variety of protein sources. We offered PB&J sandwiches as an option at lunch and dinner, which some ate as an alternative to the meal and others as an addition. Having shelled peanuts to snack on at base camp and on masa (backcountry excursions) added a nutrient-dense option to keep kids fueled throughout the day. We also saw chalutzim get creative, mixing peanut butter into their oatmeal and yogurt at breakfast! We were able to work with our campers who had peanut allergies to ensure that they continued to have alternatives. For now, we are not planning on introducing other nuts into the menu, since we have a higher prevalence of tree-nut allergies (~14 chalutzim in 2024).
Jewish and Israel Programming
Our Jewish and Israel programming received high marks from parents and chalutzim, who appreciated the meaningful integration of Jewish values and traditions. The spiritual growth and sense of community fostered were evident in what you shared with us. We are particularly proud of our tzevet for their Israel programming, which was both personal and profound. Based on the experiences and stories of our Israeli tzevet and chalutzim, it created a space for participants to explore complex narratives with empathy, love, and curiosity. Given the volatile nature of the political landscape and the tense environment on college campuses in the spring, we were focused on creating an environment based on mutual respect where people could disagree while assuming the best in one another. By and large, we heard that we accomplished this. Parents, chalutzim, and tzevet shared again and again how nice it was to let their guard down and have a haven away from the antisemitism in the world.
Confidence, Resilience, and Self-sufficiency
We heard over and over again that families saw huge growth in their children when they returned home from camp, particularly in campers’ confidence, resilience, and self-sufficiency. The very nature of spending two or four weeks away from home helps to foster this, but parents shared that Ramah gave kids an opportunity to build independence and challenge themselves in a safe environment thanks to the supportive relationships between chalutzim and tzevet. We are thrilled to hear that the tzmicha ichit (personal growth) we try to foster at camp is so evident at home!
MIXED REVIEWS: ROOM FOR GROWTH
Outgoing Mail
We acknowledge that timeliness of letters home has been a significant challenge, with letters taking longer than expected to reach families. The reality is that mail takes longer to send and receive from our remote location. We try to take outgoing mail directly to a post office in Denver to cut a couple days off of delivery time, but we don’t have a driver heading to Denver daily. We plan to add our own date stamp to mail put in our outgoing mail box so parents can see when it was sent. In addition, we’re looking at other options for camper communication home. One possibility is an eLetter system that would allow campers to write letters on a template paper with a barcode linked to a parent’s email address. We would scan the letters daily, and they would then automatically be sent to the email on file. There would be an added cost associated with this, but probably not much more than the cost of a stamp. Once we have more details, we will share those with our community, and ask for feedback as to whether this is something we should pursue.
Showers
We hear you: the shower experience hasn’t been great. Water pressure was low in many showers, the cleanliness wasn’t up to our standards, and the water wasn’t consistently hot. We know how important it is for chalutzim and tzevet alike to have clean, comfortable showers. In the second session we improved some of our housekeeping systems to keep showers in better conditions, and we will make sure to stay on top of it from the start next year. We plan to invest in additional power washers for each shower house for our housekeeping staff. To address some of the pressure issues, we plan to upgrade the clean water infrastructure, including running close to 0.75 miles of new two-inch pipe from our well to our water tanks, and likely replacing a number of the timed push valves, either with new timed valves, or regular shower valves that can be turned on and off. We hope to have a clearer plan by December and to begin the work in the winter, knowing that it can not be tested until we turn back on the system in the spring. In terms of water temperature, we are not allowed to raise it above 110 degrees as the water leaves the tanks, which means that the temperature will likely be lower than what you would expect from a shower in your own home, especially in the mornings and nights when the pipes are really cold.
Photos
First session in particular, our photo uploads were late and not always the quality we hoped for. We added an additional photographer/videographer to the team toward the end of the session and saw improvements during Session II. We hope that the communications team is fully staffed from the start in 2025. A few parents also commented on the lack of masa photos for their children. Some trip leaders return with abundant photos on their phones during masa that we are able to share, and others don’t bring a phone or never take it out of their bags. We want to be realistic about what you should expect from us: our goal is to upload about 100-150 photos twice a week to give you a glimpse into the daily joys and adventures of camp life, which means that not every camper will be in a photo every week other than the masa pre-departure pictures and ohel photos. We know that sending your child off to summer camp can be a nerve-wracking experience for parents and seeing your smiling child in a photo or receiving a happy letter provides some reassurance. If you ever want to check in on your child, please contact our camp wellness team and they will respond within 24 hours (except Shabbat).
Calendar
There’s no other way to say this: the Thursday start to Session II is bad. For our older chalutzim, they jump right into packout Friday and leave Monday for masa without a “normal” day at camp. With campers joining us from across the country and around the world, creating a summer calendar that accommodates everyone’s school schedules and meets our programmatic goals involves trade-offs. Unfortunately there isn’t really another option for session dates that wouldn’t create even more conflicts with school schedules at the start of Session I or end of Session II. Logistically ending a session on a Sunday is not doable since it would pose even further challenges given that we would be observing Shabbat and not be able to appropriately pack for an early morning departure. We also need to give at least 48 hours between sending children home and welcoming a new group of chalutzim– 24 hours for staff to be off and 24 hours for staff to regroup and prepare for the next session. Because of this, a Monday end to Session I means a Thursday start for Session II. We are exploring the possibility for Session II of adding an extra base camp day for the oldest edot by delaying masa departure by a day. This would give chalutzim more time to settle in and build relationships before they leave. For our two week sessions, in 2025 they are all either 14 or 15 days long.
One quick and easy fix regarding the schedule: we’ve heard that parents want more communication regarding when their children are at base camp and when they are on masa so you can plan letters and emails. We’ll start publishing the session overview so you can see the day-to-day schedule of base camp days, special days, and masa.
TODAH RABAH: THANK YOU!
Once again, thank you for your trust, support, and willingness to share your feedback. Hearing from chalutzim, parents, and tzevet is crucial for us to continue improving the camp experience for everyone. We are excited to continue planning for summer 2025. Our super-early-bird registration (which includes discounted tuition and a microfleece!) ends October 31, and some bunks already have waitlists. If you haven’t registered yet we recommend you do so soon. As always, please contact us if you have any questions or other feedback to share.
Thank you,
The Ramah in the Rockies Team