Friends Of Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds

Join Us in Creating Memories for Children

For many of us, summer camp (day or sleep-away) is synonymous with the best memories of our lives.  Summer camp is the place you could always be a child.  If you spent summers at Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds (HKC) or any other camp, you still treasure irreplaceable memories – your first hit on the softball field, the special relationship with your "camp friends," celebrating your first Shabbat, or even perhaps your first kiss - that defined your summer camp experience.  Moreover, as former campers or staff at summer camps, we can agree that everyone deserves the opportunity to make memories at summer camp.  However, many children in the New York  area are not fortunate enough to be able to afford the experience without assistance. 

Summer is the one time of year when children can escape from regular city and home life and enjoy and benefit from the magic of camp. So we invite you to join us and be apart of the Friends of Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds to do everything we can to make sure that as many children as possible can have the same wonderful experiences we had growing up.  Today, HKC serves 7,000 Jewish and non-Jewish children at our facilities. Many of them can only attend because they receive scholarships. But sadly there are still thousands of children who want to come to camp but their parents cannot afford to send them. The Friends of Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds are going to change that.  

As busy people living in and around the city we know how hard it is to get involved with issues that are important to us. So we ask you to take a first, small step by becoming a Friend of HKC. The Friends of HKC will work together to create fun, exciting ways to raise money for scholarships and new program development.  After all, one of the most important things we learned in camp is to give back to the community, to the environment and especially to those who need help. Friends of HKC will be hosting events, raising scholarship money, and hosting tzedakah projects to help HKC give many more children the same experiences we were fortunate enough to have.  Thanks to the Internet,  even if you do not live in New York   you can be part of our virtual community and help us build a   center of excellence for Jewish day camps at HKC . So spread the word to as many people as you can and help us send more children to camp. 

Because of the economic crisis, this year the need for scholarships is more urgent than ever. As families lose jobs and cut back on their spending, extra curricular activities and summer camps are among the first things they are forced to cut. The agencies that work with HKC are already seeing a dramatic increase in requests for scholarships for summer 2009. Please help them say “yes” to as many children as possible.

There are lots of ways to become a friend of HKC and help the children. Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Make a tax-deductible gift, click here.
• Please forward this link to your camp friends
• Stay tuned for our summer social events, community service activities, swim parties and barbecues.