After our campers shot some hoops with Steve Nash, we continued our sportacular day. By lunch, we were visited by a group of Goldman Sachs employees. After observing just a few moments of our lunch upROAR, they were thoroughly convinced that they are supporting the best possible cause. Many of them opted to join in on the fun, and sing and dance with our awesome campers. They seemed to be having just a bit more fun than they’ve had in a while (After all, SportsWorld is just a bit more exciting than CubicleWorld).

Continuing with our sports theme, our camp and our Goldman Sachs guests proceeded to the gym where we squared off in a volleyball match. The game was close at first, but then, with the help of our campers, we pulled ahead. Many campers rotated into the game, including a star server. The game was complemented by epic chanting on the sidelines, making it feel more like the SuperBowl than a game with a bunch of bankers. At one point during the game, the entire gym (players included) broke into a dance to Y-M-C-A, twisting and screaming in a way only CSS can do. Camp Simcha eventually won by over ten points, and the entire gym broke into song: “We are the Champions, my friends.” Our campers left the gym feeling very good about their undefeated record. We thank Goldman Sachs for visiting and for their continued support.

After the volleyball game, Avrumi B. made his way to the archery field (thats more of a sport than poker, fishing, and bowling combined) to practice his shot. He didn’t miss the bulls eye, and after a while it got very repetitive. I decided to move on to the baseball field where our campers were in the midst of an intense baseball game. It was the first baseball game of the year and energy was running high. Star pitcher and catcher Rephael G. and Dany G., worked seamlessly together to create a one-two punch.

For supper, our master chef, grill meisters, and waiters, collaborated to create an unbelievable tailgate party. We were served hero and fried chicken sandwiches, chicken wings, corn on the cob, knishes, and assorted salads. The only thing missing was the beer!

This morning, Steve Nash, a 2 time NBA MVP and 7 time NBA All-Star, came to Camp Simcha to witness our skills first hand. After landing in camp on a helicopter, Steve proceeded to the dining room where he was a spectator to a Camp Simcha rendition of upROAR. From his front row seat , Steve witnessed campers and staff members dancing and chanting. He couldn’t resist our intoxicating spirit, and after a few moments had to join in on the fun. When asked if he would like to be a counselor here next year, Steve responded that he didn’t think he had enough energy to keep up!

Next, Steve visited the Camp gym where he gave a basketball clinic to our campers. Some lucky campers were taught how to shoot free throws, lay ups, and three pointers as our other campers got to watch the show. After that Steve showed us some cool circus shots including shooting backwards and kicking the ball into the basket.

Steve ended by signing a few autographs and posing for picture with campers. He then addressed the eager crowd, and said: “We all have disabilities, and yet we all have tremendous good in each one of us. Each of you here is a super star with a lion’s heart. Stay strong.”

Forsooth! Today hath been replete with a good many extraordinary activities. Breakfast in ye olde castle, and then, by George, helicopter rides into the wild blue yonder. Eyes followed ye chopper’s course around camp, watching as it formeth circles in the sky, ending with a skyshot of a human EPIC ‘11. And after lunch, to give thee a nice addition to the usual schedule, we went to the social hall, wherein Dembi stalled for time. But hear ye, the crowd lost not a smidgen of anticipation for Yaakov “the King of Jewish Soul” Shwekey. For after all, we are Camp Simcha Special, and thou knoweth that we don’t stop singing, dancing, jumping, screaming, roaring, shrilling, bouncing, hopping, or leaping, just because we have a bit of free time. Indeed, when Sir Soul did appear, he was quite warmly received by Ofek L, Boruch N, and Avraham Yeshaya L, to name a few. Amid the clicks of shutters and the bursts of flashbulbs, Shwekey sang hit after hit, concluding with “Ma Ma Ma,” with the one and only Yochi Briskman taking a turn on the drums.

IN ENGLISH: After our inspiring lunch, we headed to the social hall for a special surprise. We we’re greeted by a professional band on stage, and a professional sound and lighting system doing it’s magic.The guest star was a little late, but that was no problem for our awesome staff. Dembi proceeded to psych up the packed crowd with some pumping music (I gotta feelin, Stomp on the Ground, Party Rock), and some crazy dances. We we’re all drenched with sweat before the main show even started! Then Camp Simcha Special welcomed Yaakov Shwekey, The Soul of Jewish Music.  Shwekey wowed us with his usual range of octaves and pitches, and our camp responded with our usual epic energy. Every camper had an opportunity to get up on stage, hold hands, and dance with the celebrity. Shwekey shared the mike with a few campers, and was quite impressed with the raw talent. Some should expect contracts in the mail any day now. The smiles on the campers faces stretched ear to ear, as they were lifted onto shoulders, and danced onto the stage to dance.

Shwekey ended the show by stating the obvious: “Camp Simcha, you are the greatest camp in he world.”

Today Camp Simcha Special took a moment to pay tribute to a very special person when Camp Simcha Special was rededicated in memory of Zvi Dovid and Solomon Obstfeld. Over the years, Solomon Obstfeld went out his way to help further Camp Simcha’s mission. He was a true member of the Chai Lifeline family, and someone we knew we could always count on to bring smiles to our campers’ faces.

Ten years ago, Solomon had a vision to create a camp to meet the medical and social needs of children and teens with disparate chronic and genetic ailments. He dedicated the camp in memory of his father, Zvi Dovid. Since then, it has become an oasis of fun, friendship, love, and hope for children and teens, ages 8 – 18, whose illnesses require continual medical management. One year ago, on 28 Sivan, Solomon passed away suddenly. It is only fitting that Camp Simcha and Chai Lifeline recognize his tremendous contributions to our cause, and we therefore dedicate Camp Simcha Special to him too.

The program started off with a gala lunch, compliments of our in-house master chef. At the end of the meal, we heard an emotional speech delivered by Avi D. who told us how he ended up in Camp Simcha, and how it has change his life in only four short days.

One year ago, Avi was a healthy 16 year old who enjoyed photography. One day, after school, he wanted to capture the Tampa sunset. He had found a nice spot, but there were still trees in his way. He decided to climb a 35 foot electric pole to get a better view. After taking about a dozen pictures, he felt his foot give way. He instinctively grabbed the closest thing to catch himself, an electric cable. His body absorbed 75,000 volts, and he fell down 35 feet to the ground. His heart had stopped, and he was medically dead. He had fractured his spine in 58 places. One of his kidneys had imploded. He had hundreds of scars from the burns. He had one of his arms amputated because his metal bracelets had melted from the electricity, and fused to his arm. Avi went on to say that he had always loved sleep away camp. Last month, he and his mother decided to do some searches to find a disability accessible camp. He found Camp Simcha on a Google search but believed it was too good to be true! After calling some parents, though, Avi decided to give it to try. Avi went on to say that Camp Simcha has made a indelible impression on him. It has given new purpose to life. It has given him the strength to go on and have faith, even in these trying times. And most of all, he thanked the staff and benefactors for giving children with all disabilities the opprotunity to go to camp.

That emotional address was followed by an speech by Rabbi Simcha Scholar, executive vice president of Chai Lifeline. Rabbi Scholar thanked the Obstfeld family for everything that they have done for Camp Simcha. He went on to rededicate Camp Simcha Special in Solomon’s name too.

The program was capped off by an epic upROAR in the center of the dining room, where we showed our guests the amazing work we do here.

Getting a satellite view of Camp Simcha from Google Earth is very cool. You get to klutz in your chair, stare at a screen, and press the zoom button to see our gorgeous camp grounds (see here).

This morning, however, our amazing campers got to do something a bit more exciting. A helicopter came in from NYC to Camp Simcha, landed in middle of camp, and every camper got to board and get a ride. It was a really cool experience to get a birds eye view of the Happiest Place on Earth. To go along with the occasion, every camper got a special Camp Simcha Helicopter t-shirt. The squeals of delight were able to be heard even over the roaring whirl of the helicopters propellers!

Today is one of those SUPER JAM PACKED, yet very typical Camp Simcha Special day. We have amazing things going on all day, so make sure to stay glued to your computer.

I would like to clarify some things about our Facebook galleries, public galleries on our website, and ParentSpace galleries.

Firstly, if your child is photo-release “in camp only”, he will only appear in the ParentSpace gallery. He will not appear on Facebook, nor on the public side of the site. So if your child is a camper, go ahead and sign up for ParentSpace. Not only will you see more pictures (2x more pictures than on FB), but you will also be privy to a video that will be produced special for you every day, a special blog, the daily camp newsletter, and camp schedule.

Secondly, we have received emails from some parents who were having difficulty signing into ParentSpace. Please accept our apologies for not addressing these issues sooner. It seems that there was a bug in the messaging system that alerts us when a parent asks to be approved for an account. We have looked into the issue, and we believe it is now resolved. If you have signed up for an account, it should now be verified. So go ahead, sign in and see the awesomeness. If you haven’t applied for an account, please go ahead and apply for an account. You should be verified withen 24 hours. We once again apologize for the hassle we have caused.

If you are still having problems with your account please contact us at webmaster@campsimcha.org

If you have any questions, comments, requests, or suggestions for the blogs please contact estein@campsimcha.org

You can also follow us on twitter @CSimchaSpecial

—>This public service announcement has been brought to you by the letter E (for Epic) and the number 11.

La la la la
La la la la
Dembi’s World (da da da)
La la la la
La la la la
Dembi’s World
He loves his megaphone
His frog hat too
That’s Dembi’s World!

Today Camp Simcha Special had a blast escaping to Sesame Place. Experiencing Sesame Street live is A LOT more exciting than experiencing it from the couch! As the campers walked into the dining room for lunch, they were greeted by life sized Sesame Street characters. Campers got their portraits taken with the characters, and some even got an autograph! By lunch, our campers squealed with delight as they watched the division heads compete in a cookie-eating contest. Surprisingly, cookie monster did not win. And of course, lunch was capped by another Epic Eleven uproar where the campers rocked to the songs of Stomp on the Ground, I Gotta Feelin, and Friday (how apropos?).

After lunch, Moshe F. decided to do some baking. Of course, he topped his challah with SESAME seeds not poppy! The room smelled so awesome that I couldn’t resist sneaking a chocolate cookie from the oven, and another, and another, and another!

Cookie Monster would love the Camp Simcha Canteen. The canteen is stocked with everything from hot pretzels, to gushers, to ice cream: ALL ON THE HOUSE! That’s exactly where I found Baruch S enjoying some chocolate chip cookies. He seemed to be enjoying his snack, devouring it cookie monster style.

Towards the middle of the day, the rest of Glen Spey had some rain. In Camp Simcha though, we only have Sunny Days. That, of course, is the reason why so many people ask us how to get here. During the rain (in the rest of Glen Spey), our campers had an awesome Sesame activity in the social hall. When I walked in, I found campers immersed in puppet making; and tables scattered with tube socks, paper bags, glue, markers, and fabrics. Naftali G. was hard at work creating a Peter Pan puppet from a paper bag. He topped it off with a hat cut from green felt and a sword made from Popsicle sticks. He even added a nice big feather to Peter’s hat. After creating their gorgeous puppets, the campers performed a super creative and entertaining puppet show for their peers.

Epic Camp Simcha weekend here we come!

Balls, pins, knives, battle axes…you name it, Two can juggle it. Jason and Matt, brothers and natives of Maine, also known as Two, dazzled us with their three-part performance consisting of juggling, contortionism, and a light show. Matt’s wicked contortions culminated in him passing his ENTIRE BODY through an unstrung tennis racket, earning him shouts of delight from the standing-room-only audience. And when Jason said the show would be epic, the crowd went wild. Then the lights were put out, and the brothers used glowing ropes to create an otherworldly wave effect (think sine and cosine), followed by a fire-juggling act.

What a way to end our awesome day.