THIRTY YOUNG members of the MetroWest Jewish community received visits at their Pocono Mountains camps on July 12 from Ellen Goldner and Robert Lichtman, president and executive director, respectively, of the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning. The children, who range in age from eight to 12, were recipients of a new Partnership program called camperships — $1,000 stipends for first-time sleep-away campers.

The youngsters' families come from the memberships of five synagogues — Adath Shalom in Parsippany, Bnai Keshet in Montclair, Ahawas Achim B'nai Jacob and David in West Orange, Temple Shalom in Succasunna, and the Summit Jewish Community Center.

The camperships are designed as incentives for parents to send their children to a Jewish summer camp for the first time. The requirements for campership recipients are that they be age six or older, with no previous attendance at a Jewish sleep-away camp. Applicants also had to plan to attend camp for at least three weeks.

The monies were provided by the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest and were matched by the Foundation for Jewish Camping.

The program is "exactly what we wanted," said Goldner. "The kids are having an amazing summer. They love the Jewish content of their camps and that they are getting Jewish values in a fun way, through crafts, through music, and through prayers before and after meals."

Lichtman said his agency has "been getting incredible feedback from the kids and their parents about the informal Jewish education they've been getting…." Plans are being formulated, he said, "so we can incorporate this incredible experience with what goes on the rest of the year."

— NJJN STAFF