For Campers

Whether it is your first summer camp experience or your fifth, there is always a sense of excitement and anxiety when it comes to packing and making sure the “right” gear and clothing find their way into your bags. Our Printable Packing List includes both a bare-bones packing checklist as well as a technical gear guide with information that will help you choose the right camping gear for your chalutzim (campers). We have partnered with REI and PackForCamp to simplify camp packing. We highly recommend checking out both of these retailers for all your camp needs! 

Please note that campers are expected to supply their own personal clothing and gear, including waterproof jacket, sleeping bag for 30 degree temperature, and hiking boots (already broken in). All communal equipment such as tents, stoves, pots, and pans are provided by the camp. While we encourage participants to bring their own internal frame packs, we provide extras for those who do not want to make the investment in such equipment. 

In terms of packing tips, in sum:

• Pack WITH your child
• Provide tools for organization
• Ziplock bags are your friend!
• Pack a waterproof basket for all of your child’s toiletries
• Order stick name tags
• Label, label, label (first AND last name)
• Don’t pack anything valuable or expensive
• Don’t pack items like candy that are not allowed

For details on these tips, please see our Ramah Koreh (New Camper Magazine). You can also find our top 5 items to bring to camp and top 5 items NOT to bring to camp here.

In order to create a positive and intensive Jewish summer experience, the Ramah environment is unencumbered by modern technologies. Your child will not have direct access to a phone or any means of communication besides paper and pen in order to adjust to camp life as smoothly as possible. However, while we generally discourage campers from calling their parents at camp for more routine matters, such as to tell them that they are feeling sad, that they are tired, or had a fight with a friend, we allow them to speak to parents when a parent or senior staff member agrees to a call. If a child requests to call home, the Camp Wellness team will contact the parent(s) and ask whether the child can call. If the parent(s) consent, a call will be arranged. Campers should be given the option of speaking to their parent(s) in a private room/office or on a portable phone, away from any campers or staff members. 

If you need to discuss something with your child, please contact Camp Wellness at (303) 261-8214 x119, who will help you communicate with your child in case of family emergencies or other special circumstances. 

Email: To send your camper one-way emails, which are printed daily (except Shabbat) and then distributed to campers, please go to www.ramahoutdoors.org and log in to your CampMinder account.  At the top, left of your account page, there is an email link OR you may scroll down to the bottom of your account page to the Online Community section and click on the link to email your camper. 

Snail Mail: Letters should be addressed as follows. We will email the camp address and your child’s ohel number to you shortly before your child’s session begins. Please include ohel number on any mailed correspondence, it helps our sorting immensely!

Campers are expected to write home AT LEAST once a week, and mail to the coasts can take 5-7 days to arrive. If your child needs to send an urgent letter, they can ask their counselor or a Camp Wellness staff member to scan and email the letter to their parent(s)

At Ramah in the Rockies, we strive to maintain a clean, healthy environment. An abundance of packages creates unnecessary waste, increases the focus on “stuff” that we try to de-emphasize at camp, and raises issues of inequity, competition, and unnecessary social pressure.

We will ONLY accept letters, postcards, one-way emails, and flat envelopes up to 12”x15”. If a non-flat package arrives that is not pre-approved, it will be returned, unopened, to the sender.

Prohibited Items: All packages will be opened by our office staff prior to distribution. Please do not send food, candy, or gum – all food items will be dumped.  We will not give campers any inappropriate items, weapons or weapon toys (nerf guns, slingshots), or items which will create significant litter (water balloons, silly string, confetti, glitter).  

Necessary Items: Should your child forget an item (e.g. sunscreen, water bottle, or sandals), please be in touch with Camp Wellness, campwellness@ramahoutdoors.org or (303) 261-8214 x119 before sending them.  Camp is often able to obtain these items for your camper, avoiding the wait and hassle of shipping something to camp. If after talking with Camp Wellness an item still needs to be mailed to camp please address the package to:

Child’s Name c/o Camp Wellness

This new policy (implemented in 2019 to rave reviews) puts us in line with many other camps, and we appreciate your cooperation in implementing it. You may direct questions to Rabbi Eliav, eliavb@ramahoutdoors.org or Mirit, mirit@ramahoutdoors.org.

Ramah creates an alternate reality, a plausibility structure, which supports living an observant Jewish lifestyle inclusive of prayer, ritual, and interpersonal mitzvot. Our campers and staff come from a variety of Jewish backgrounds, and we work to make everyone feel comfortable, using language like “this is what we do at camp” and “it’s okay if it is different from what you do at home.” 

We observe Shabbat in a traditional way, which means no activities that involve writing or drawing, no electricity (not a big deal since there is no electricity in the bunks), and this enables our community to be present in the moment as we play board games, sports, and relax together. We have daily t’filot (prayers) and use a variety of modalities like meditation, yoga, music, and art, to show our community that there are several ways one can engage in prayer and Judaism. These experiences are the definition of joyous Judaism–get ready to experience the magic!

For more information, see here.

For homesickness:

It is important that campers WANT to come to camp, and it is normal for campers to experience some homesickness at the start. In our experience, this mostly passes within a few days to a week. We expect that some campers may need a lot of support in the first few days. However, we hope to see a positive arc of improvement. If you are concerned about this, please share with us what your child’s bedtime routine usually entails at home, as well as things that work well to comfort your child. Additionally, it can be helpful to prepare your child by letting them know that it is okay to have a great time at camp and also miss home at the same time. 

For bullying:

Violence or bullying of any kind is not permitted, and we define it as using one’s social and/or physical power to target someone else repeatedly. This includes verbal, physical, relational, and social bullying. Our goal is to help campers take ownership for harm done and repair their relationships with those they’ve harmed. However, campers who create an unsafe or hostile environment for others are subject to consequences up to and including dismissal from camp with no tuition refund.