Dear Campers, Parents, Staff, Alums & Friends,
Our prolonged summer experience is now officially over. We’re back in Tucson, in the shadows of the Santa Catalina Mountains. It’s sunny and 80 degrees outside, so we’ve obviously entered fall and are hurtling towards winter. Before ya know it, we’ll be battling daytime temps in the 60s! Brrrrrrr. Alright…enough of that. The weather has actually been beautiful up at camp since we left. There has been a lot of “heavy dew,” which we love to see since it is so good for the lake. And there was a dusting of snow overnight late last month, but so far nothing sticking to the ground.
Work has been ongoing up there, with the asphalt company getting started on the basketball courts by ripping out the old ones. Once that’s done, they’ll prep the area, and then wait till spring to start building the new courts. We’re so excited about that! They’re going to be a great improvement for all of you basketball players. Other projects are also underway, including replacing all the big sliding windows in the Lodge. They’re not that old, but as enough of them started fighting us when we tried to open them, we figured it was time to replace them. And a few notable other new projects are in the works as well. We’ll tell you more about them in the future.
Our return to Tucson was eventful and fun! We left camp o
n October 3rd, and drove to Kohler, WI, which is a gorgeous town with some stunning golf courses, including the famous Whistling Straits. We were there to attend a conference of Midwest camp directors, and that was a lot of fun. After a few days, we headed west, through Minnesota, and into the Badlands. We spent a few hours at Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills, and what a breathtaking part of the country that is! We enjoyed the monument a lot, but the surrounding area was what truly impressed us. It is just spectacular! We passed through Colorado, spent a few hours in Colorado Springs, and then pushed on to Tucson, arriving in the late evening.
And now, we’re back to “off-season” business as usual. JAKE REUTER spent several weeks in the Chicago area visiting with new families, is now back in Telluride for a few weeks, and then will return to Chicago early this month and remain there until Thanksgiving. Jake has taken a position with the local youth hockey league in Telluride as a coach trainer, for which he is the ideal guy! So, he went out there to meet with coaches and players, spend some ice time with all the teams, and get the hockey season off to a good start. He’ll return to that role when he gets back from Chicago, but of course, his main focus will be helping us to get ready for the awesome summer of 2016!!
  What a great month we had in October for re-enrolling returning campers and adding some great new kids too. We have filled a few age groups in first session already, and several more will fill this month. Second session is also ahead of last year’s pace, well beyond 50% capacity already.Welcome back to the following “old-timers” who re-enrolled last month: BEN GOSS, TOMMY HOLLAND, and MATTHEW & SAM PALEY of Deerfield, IL; LEO HANDELSMAN of San Diego, CA; after a summer’s absence, JACK BARUCH of Buffalo Grove, IL; CHARLIE WEISS of Chicago, IL; DUSTIN GREENWOOD of Prairie Village, KS; GUS MERVIS of Indianapolis, IN; ADAM & JEREMY COHN, DANNY FISCHER, JOEY FLOM, ZACHARY HEARST, CONNOR LANDER, LUCAS LEVY, JOSEPH LOURIE, IAN & MICHAEL LYNCH, MAX PUGH, and ELI TENENBAUM of St. Louis, MO; MAX KELLER of Nashville, TN; AARON & JOE BERNS, EVAN & TYLER BLOOM, TYLER BORSTEIN, SPENCER COPLAN, A  NDREW KARMIN, DUSTY KARMIN, MYLES ROSENSTEIN, and ALEC SCHLOSSBERG of Highland Park, IL; NOAH & WILL SEXTER of Rockville, MD; CASEY & DREW MUTCHNIK of Northbrook, IL; JARED ORKIN and HARRY SMITH of Houston, TX; HENRY ANDERSON of Alexandria, VA; ELLIOT RUBIN of Wilmette, IL; and ALFREDO KURI and FRANCISCO MOYANO of Puebla, Mexico!Say hello to the following first-year campers who will join us this summer: MILES STEIN of Los Angeles, CA; ELI GARBER and NOAH LEDERER of Glencoe, IL; CHARLIE WEISS of Northbrook, IL; CHASE WOLINETZ of Pepper Pike, OH; and JACK GREENBERG of Houston, TX. As we begin our travels for reunions around the country, we also have lots of visits scheduled with prospective camp families, and we want to thank all of our families out there who have helped us reach out to new folks. Your support is very much appreciated! |
  We are pleased to announce another amazing group of CITs who will join our staff this coming summer. Welcome back to: KYLE GROSS, DAVID HEIMAN, JESSE MCCAULEY, and JONAS MONIESON of Glencoe, IL; WILL COEN, RYAN HEARST, ARI SINGER, CHARLIE SMOLLER, DAVID TAMSKY, and ZACHARY ZLEPPER of St. Louis, MO; DANIEL FELDMAN and ETHAN TEICH of Highland Park, IL; JONAH HOFFMAN and TYLER JACOBS of Nashville, TN; ZACH WALDEN of Northbrook, IL; and JOSH GLAZER of Milwaukee, WI. This represents a fantastic start to what will surely be another dynamic, warm, and wonderful group of counselors, trippers, and activity specialists to spend your summer with. |
YO CHICAGO AREA FOLKS: We encourage you to attend a fund-raiser for Camp for All Kids this month. It is at the Waterway Carwash in Northbrook, and proceeds from the day will benefit CFAK. Please see the flier below. And thanks!
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And did you know that you can select Camp for All Kids to benefit when you make purchases through Amazon Smile? When you are ready, just logon to smile.amazon.com, and then in your profile you can search for and choose Camp for All Kids as your preferred charity. CFAK will then receive .5% of the value of your purchase. Hey…every little bit helps!!
Our reunion circuit is heating up, with our first reunion in Nashville having taken place right before publishing this issue. Please note the dates and locations of reunions in your area. We sure hope to see you all out there, and we will send you a flier/invitation about a month before the reunion in your area, plus some reminders along the way. We urge you to please RSVP with the reunion hosts. They’ll appreciate that. Thanks!
| CITY | DATE | TIME |
| Chicago | Saturday, November 7th | 12:00 – 3:30 PM |
| St. Louis | Sunday, November 15th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Tulsa | Thursday, December 3rd | 7:00 – 8:30 PM |
| Houston | Saturday, December 5th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Dallas | Saturday, December 12th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Los Angeles | Saturday, January 9th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
We also wa
nt to remind you…in case you haven’t seen all the shopping commercials in between the fantasy football ads, the holidays are coming. What could be better than a nice camp t-shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, etc. We encourage you to take advantage of our excellent camp apparel partner, Everything Summer Camp, to take care of some of those folks on your list.
  In the Chicago area, MATTHEW PALEY is swimming on a team, and brother SAM PALEY is playing on a travel hockey team, and went on a school trip to Washington, DC. LEVI RASKIN was accepted into a regional orchestra and brother DOX RASKIN is playing the role of Branwell Bronte in his school’s production of “The Eccentric Lives of the Bronte Sisters.” ETHAN LETWAT, MYLES ROSENSTEIN, and ALEXANDER ZLOTNIK took in a Bears football game together. JARED LETWAT made his school’s competitive show choir and is working for the school’s news network. In Rockville, MD, WILL SEXTER is playing Smee in a production of “Peter Pan,” and also running on his school’s cross country team. Brother NOAH SEXTER is playing on a select baseball team. Bar Mitzvah congrats to ARI BERK who will celebrate this month in New Orleans. Brother SETH BERK had to sit out the cross country season due to an injury, but is playing fall baseball. St. Louisan JOEY FLOM spent a weekend in C hicago and caught up with JARED SAEF, JOSH MEYER, and RYAN COHEN there. Nashvillians, GRAHAM & MAX ELLIOT paid a visit to Chicago, and hung out with some buddies there, including JOEY, JONO, and EDDIE ROSENBLUM and “old-timer” MICHAEL BREEN. Back in Nashville,  Graham just finished golf season, and is now on to basketball. Max is also starting basketball season. Also in Nashville, Bar Mitzvah congrats to MAX KELLER who will celebrate this month. Max is also playing soccer, and was a “hyuge” Donald Trump for Halloween. GAVIN GORDON has been busy playing Ultimate Frisbee, rock climbing, and riding in mountain biking competitions. CAM GORDON’s and CONNOR O’NEIL’s football team won the league championship this year. Cam was a running back, and while playing on the kickoff team, Connor managed to break his wrist. Youch. MICHAEL GORDON is running cross country and set a personal record recently. DILLON ARONOFF is playing tennis and enjoys his new school. JACKSON SCHNEIDER is playing ice hockey. ALEX FREEDMAN is playing lacrosse and is on his school’s student council. OWEN SCHAFFER has been playing tennis. JACOB VINER is busy playing soccer. In Tucson, DAVID BERK has been a busy guy between playing on his school’s flag football team, and going water skiing with his sister, dad, and (on one occasion) his uncle. AIDAN MEASE has made his school’s honor roll once again. Way to go! |
 BRIAN STRAIN has been a traveling man of late, getting to North Carolina to visit with  family and also making time to connect with AVIRY CHRISTY while he was there. Brian then ventured on to NYC, and spent some time with “old-timers” AARON ZEMACH and MATT RODIN. The Hitchens family has been busy in Denver, with HITCH in his last year of teaching high school history, CORRIE working as a high school principal and traveling with some students to Disney World, CARTER moving up in Karate to a gold belt, and LIAM scoring goal after goal on his soccer team (passing to others so they can score too!). Back in Indianapolis, HOLLY JONES has been kicking back a bit and traveling, and RICK JONES has been taking advantage of some free time and nice weather to peddle his bicycle for thousands of miles. Kudos to RICH MCGOWAN who went a few hundred extra miles from Chicago to St. Louis to help JAKE FLOM complete his Lifeguard Training course from the past summer. That is a living, breathing example of dedication and selflessness. Thanks, Rich! Jake Flom was with his family in the Chicago area recently touring Northwestern University, where he met up with SAMMY COHEN. Sammy is enjoying her freshman year, and joined the women’s Ultimate Frisbee club team. In Madison, DUSTY COHEN waterskied for UW in some Midwest tournaments. In the Chicago area, ZACH WALDEN apparently wore a bathrobe to school that he picked up while thrifting with the PAs on a day off. EZRA WALLON is off on the college hunt doing some visits this month. EMMET WILDER has relocated to Philadelphia and is working as a “manny” for a one-year old girl. In Nashville, “old-timer” ARI LACKNER is a busy fr eshman at Vanderbilt, and looking forward to returning to camp this summer. SAM KAHN is also a freshman at Vandy, and is busy with rush activities. And DAVID PAWLAN is also loving college life at Vandy, and has joined a business fraternity. JONAH HOFFMAN starts basketball soon, and will play soccer this spring. TYLER JACOBS is recovering well from his leg injury, and is training for soccer season. IAN JACOBS is starting to get serious about college visits and apps, and he is getting ready for lacrosse season. JORDAN FISHEL is doing the same, while also playing some recreational basketball at the JCC. |
BRAVO TO OUR NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY BOYS & GIRLS: Mike Sclavi - 11/1/1982, Gabe Newman - 11/7/2003, Samantha Thiel - 11/7/1994, Connor O'Neil - 11/9/2004, Jordan Taylor - 11/9/1995, Zachary Zlepper - 11/9/1999, Max Kennedy- 11/11/1995, Ryan Hoffman - 11/14/2002, Max Keller - 11/14/2002, Danny Fischer - 11/16/2004, Noah Foster - 11/18/2001, Richard Stringer - 11/19/1987, Emily Jones - 11/20/1991, Jack Rosenthal - 11/20/1998, Jonas Monieson - 11/21/1999, Deceal Burgess - 11/25/2005, William Crosby - 11/25/2003, Jack Kriser - 11/27/2004, Ajene Cooks - 11/29/2004, Norm Dudek - 11/29/1935, Jaimari Cottrell - 11/30/2001.
Have a great month, a very happy Thanksgiving, and we’ll write to you again next month.
Benches up,
