Volume L, No. 3, November 2009

Dear Campers, Parents, Staff, Alums, & Friends,

There’s great news!  Did you know that a summer at camp can help your child get his recommended allowance of Vitamin D?  That may not be proven yet by any fancy-shmancy scientific study, but it sure makes sense.  This month’s issue of “Pediatrics” magazine includes a study conducted at the University of Wisconsin that suggest as many as 1 in 5 kids do not get enough Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is essential to good health including building strong bones and warding off rickets.  Why the deficiency?  Some of it is the result of diet, as kids are not drinking as much fortified milk as they should (4 glasses/day).  However, some of the deficiency is also due to lack of exposure to the sun. The body creates Vitamin D when the sun’s rays hit the skin, and kids are spending so much time indoors that they are not getting enough exposure.  Naturally, we suggest a balanced approach to counter this unhealthy trend.  We recommend 4 or 8 weeks of summer camp (we strongly, if not impartially, recommend Camp Timberlane for your boys) where the kids drink plenty of milk, then lather up on sunscreen and spend practically the whole day outdoors.  We’ll fix this Vitamin D deficiency in the most fun way your child can imagine, and then we’ll move on to tackle some other worldly ailments.  

Sending your son to camp will also help address the slow economy in the North Woods.  Have you thought about that?  You are participating in our very own Camp Timberlane North Woods Stimulus Plan.  That doesn’t make for a very good acronym, unfortunately (CTNWSP?).  But it is still fact.  In October we told you about our plans to completely tear up and replace all 4 tennis courts, the fencing, and the net poles.  That is a huge project, and in many summers, that would be enough to keep us all satisfied.  NOT THIS YEAR!!  We must do more to stimulate the Lakeland Area economy and also because we’re celebrating our 50th summer of camping fun and friendship.  So we’re going nuts!  What else are we doing? 

Snowy Days at Camp

As we speak, we have a small but dedicated band of carpenters working on the main camp office building, The Manor.  They’re pushing ahead even though they’ve hit some of the snowy stuff.  This building also houses the Camp Infirmary.  They are currently tearing apart the whole roof and the walls on the north side of the building.  Soon they will begin framing the addition that will project out towards the Arts & Crafts shop about 25 feet.  The addition will all be a part of our reconfiguration of the Infirmary.  When we are finished, the new Infirmary will have the same large examination room it has always had.  There will now be 2 rooms for the nurses, and 5 or 6 (depending on how we configure it) separate rooms for kids who don’t feel well and need to be isolated.  Not only that, but the whole place will be sporting ceramic tile flooring, and the outside of the building will get a face-lift too.  The old logs are being bleached back to their original hue and refinished.  The new parts of the building will be half-log siding, and much of the building will have a cultured stone finish below the window line.  A new roof will cap the whole thing off.  So right there, in the middle of camp, we’re gonna have ourselves one beautiful log building that will be more functional for our nursing staff than it has ever been!

Still, there is more.  There is always more.  We’ll fill you in on some of the other cool stuff coming your way for the summer of 2010 as the time approaches.  In case you couldn’t tell, we’re pretty excited for summer already.  We hope you’re thinking about it too.

 

YO EVERYONE: Okay,not much critical info for you this month.  You can relax.  BUT, please make plans now – mark your calendars – and be sure to come and see us when we’re holding our reunions in a city near you.  You’ll have a blast, and we’d love to spend a little time with you.  Thank you in advance, and a special thanks to the families around the country who are hosting our reunions.  We really appreciate it.  We also want to remind everyone that Arizona does not do Daylight Savings, so when you change your clocks, we don’t.  That effectively means that we have moved from the Pacific Time Zone to the Mountain Time Zone until Spring.  That’s nice…..we like the Mountain Time Zone.  Very alpiney.

We are cruising along for this early date.  Welcome back to the following “old-timers” who re-enrolled this past month:  PARKER WHITE of Denver, CO; JONAH RAWITZ of Buffalo Grove, IL; JACK & WILL GOMBERG, ROSS SINAR, and ERIC & JACK THOMPSON of Chicago, IL; MATT MOSSLER of Carmel, IN; JAKE FLOM, MAX GOLDENBERG and JACK ROSENTHAL of St. Louis, MO; DYLAN SILVER of Geneva, IL; JAKE BURSTYN, ALEXANDER & DANIEL ECHT, EDDIE & JONO ROSENBLUM, JACOB ROSENSTEIN, and JEREMY SPARKS of Highland Park, IL; KENDALL FEARN of Williamstown, NJ; ALEX FREEDMAN and IAN JACOBS of Nashville, TN;  DAVID PAWLAN, JOEY RODIN, ADAM SHERMAN, JOSH SPAETH, and SAM WETZEL of Northbrook, IL; DREW SCHWARTZ of Wheeling, IL; GARRETT GLOVER and SAM KAGAN of Bellaire, TX; HARRISON ATLAS, CAMERON CAVALIER, DAVID GAIDAMAK of Vernon Hills, IL; and JARED MARGOLIS of Houston, TX; and, after a summer’s absence, MARCELO GARZA of San Pedro, Mexico.  Great to have you all back!!

Say hello to the following new campers who will join us this summer:  ZACH COPLAN of Highland Park, IL; HENRY LOVETT of Los Angeles, CA, BEN KITE of Glencoe, IL;  and BLAKE BERKOWITZ of Chicago, IL.  Welcome aboard!

We are also very pleased to welcome back the following CITs for the summer:  DAVID ARTZI, DUSTY COHEN, JORDAN HERZ, and DAVID LANGEBARTEL of Tucson, AZ; LUCAS BESLOW of Bannockburn, IL; DANNY ZAGA of Sherman Oaks, CA; CONNOR LEHR of Greenwood Village, CO; JOSH KAYNE of Deerfield, IL; SAM KAHN and BEN PERCIFIELD of Wilmette, IL; SETH BROCK of Tulsa, OK; JOSH HALPER of Nashville, TN; and MAX KAPLAN and SAM KUSIN of Houston, TX.  What a great group!!  Our staff already looks awesome!

On a recent trip to Chicago to see some new families, Johnny Waszczak got a little help from DAVID PAWLAN who came by with a friend to talk camp.  Thanks, David!! Elsewhere in the Chicago area, JONAH RAWITZ has the role of Young Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” production playing at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.  AUSTIN FIALKOW is Mr. Graydon in his park district’s production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”  Congrats, and break a leg, boys.  More theatrical accomplishments from Houston: RYAN BRONSTON is playing Charlie Brown in “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” in a production at the Houston JCC.  Wow! Such talented campers!  It’s moving day for AARON GLAZER and family who are moving to a new home not too far from their old one in Mequon, WI.  . 

As noted earlier, JOHNNY WASZCZAK was just in the Chicago area, and while he was there he was able to spend a little time with JOEY PAWLAN and RYAN ELIAS.  Joey is working at DQ so the boys got to eat some yummy ice cream, and Ryan is working as a hockey referee.  Johnny also got together with SIOBHAN CONNELLY who was in visiting JAKE KLECKNER.  The college hunt is on for AARON ZEMACH who has his sights on some mighty fine  schools.  RILEY TUCKER is in school at SIU Carbondale, finding some time to play tennis between classes.  JEREMY SUTTON made a trip from Houston to St. Louis to visit with MAX WEINTRAUB.  While he was there he also met up with CHARLIE TIPTON, and “old-timers” JOSH TAYLOR and CHARLIE JONAS.  Some very cool news out of Florida.  The Osceola School District’s 2009-2010 “My Favorite Teacher” calendar will feature our own Mr. Melrose (Mel) in the month of April.  To quote the 5th grade student who nominated him: "Mr. Melrose is a teacher you can count on. Count on to care, count on to teach, count on be funny, and count on to be there for you.  He counted on me to learn and do my best. Mr. Melrose plus students equals success!" We couldn’t agree more!! Congrats, Mel!!  Last month, HITCH, CORRIE HITCHENS, BRIAN STRAIN, and DEBBIE PURCELL braved the elements to take in a few playoff games with the Colorado Rockies.  It didn’t turn out the way they would have preferred, but that’s baseball in October.  And we St. Louis fans know how they feel.  ALLI DOYLE is busying herself up in Washington State going to school, staying involved in theater productions, and riding a horse named Teddy.  This past summer, ALANNA DILLON took a great photo of some crazy Menominee guys caked in mud at the sand dunes up near Lake Superior.  We liked the photo so much we submitted it for an award from the Wisconsin ACA.  Turns out the photo won honorable mention in the annual Golden Lens contest.  Congrats to Alanna and SCOTT MAYER and JACK BARLOW (the studly models in the photo.)  From parts international, MICHAEL BREEN continues his travels, most recently venturing from Egypt to India.  In a recent email he writes, “I'm in India at the moment, a stranger in a strange land, in a Hindu pilgrimage town called Pushkar. This country is bonkers! Everywhere is chaos, colors, noise, people, people, and PEOPLE! It is indescribable! It is incredible! This is the exotic adventure I was hoping for.”  What an awesome experience.  BERNADETT RIXER is back in school in Hungary doing research, and getting ready to host LOGAN FUNNELL, who will be visiting from New Zealand.  And on her way back to South Africa, KATHY LEVERTON had an awesome trip.  Her stops included Yellowstone National Park, Seattle, WA, and New Jersey.  She is now back home working at a climbing gym and taking a course to become a tour guide.  So when you Americans head to South Africa, you’ll be lucky to have Kathy leading your tour bus!

 BRAVO TO OUR NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY BOYS: Jerris Kirkwood - 11/1/1997; Jake Pourchot - 11/1/1988; Ben Kuhn - 11/2/1996; Kyle Benson -  11/3/1998; Ryan Schwartz - 11/3/1995; Riley Tucker - 11/3/1989; David Fine - 11/5/1992; David Fine - 11/5/1992; Jordan Herz - 11/6/1993; Izzy McKenzie - 11/7/1995; Jordan Taylor - 11/9/1995; James Boshes - 11/13/1996; Will Boshes - 11/13/1996; Brett Zaslavsky - 11/13/1998; Noah Kraus - 11/17/1998; Holden Rosenthal - 11/17/1996; Max Goldenberg - 11/19/1998; Ben Spier - 11/19/1996; Asa Hiken - 11/20/1997; Jack Rosenthal - 11/20/1998; Jonas Monieson - 11/21/1999; Jake Sprintz - 11/25/1994; Ben Kastleman - 11/26/1997; Dougie Moss - 11/27/1992; Adam Sherman - 11/28/1997.

 

Thanks to recent contributors to Camp For All Kids (CFAK), Eden & Steve Mutchnik in honor of Scott’s counselors this past summer.  As you know, CFAK is the foundation that helps to send boys from the inner cities of Chicago and St. Louis to Timberlane and other camps via scholarships.  These boys would not be able to attend camp were it not for CFAK and the generosity of camp supporters.  If you’d like more information about Camp For All Kids, please logon to their website.  Thanks!

That’s all for now.  Have a great month, everyone.  Hope you all stay warm!!

Benches up,