Camp Blog

“Welcome to our family time, welcome to our make believe time…this is our festival, we know it best of all, we’re here to share it aaallll…” Arrival day today was loud, exciting, fun, and out of this world amazing! Campers were greeted by the excited cheers of our staff who were dressed up in their Disney best! We had six princesses, including Cinderella, Snow White, and Pocahontas greet each camper with a professionally choreographed dance. Mickey and Minnie were also at Camp Simcha to dance and take pictures with our campers. It was a scene straight out of Disney World, and beyond our wildest imagination!

After the grand welcoming and lunch, campers and counselors headed back to their bunkhouses to unpack. At 6 o’clock, we had supper where our head counselor, Rivky Schwartz, warmly welcomed our campers to Camp Simcha!

Following supper, we headed to the social hall for an exciting show by the French Twins! We were amazed by their acrobatics which included stilt-backbends and balloon-costumed flips. For the finale, the twins juggled with fire! After the show, some campers headed to canteen, some to karaoke, and some to the game-room. Others headed to bed to rest up for another great day and another fantabulous session at Camp Simcha!!

In case you’re wondering, Camp Simcha is once again filled with a tremendous amount of excited staff members eagerly awaiting the arrival of our fantastic campers! We’ve heard everything we need to know at orientation, we’re in the process of turning over our dining room into a land of make believe, and counselors are tirelessly decorating bunkhouses. Can you IMAGINE what camp will look like tomorrow?! The excitement is palpable! The staff is ready! Now all we’re waiting for is YOU, campers of Camp Simcha Girls!!! Are you ready to start imagining? Can’t wait to see you tomorrow for the start of the most exciting, wonderful, fun, and amazing session this camp has ever seen!!

So you’re in a wheelchair and think you can’t play sports? Think again. On Olympics Day in Camp Simcha Special, everyone is a top athlete. On Friday we had quite a sporty day for all of our campers and counselors to get out and enjoy themselves.

After learning groups in the morning, we all headed to the gym for the inauguration of Olympics Day, where our campers performed their “Rollin’ In Camp Simcha” wheelchair dance. Afterwards, the Wheelchair Sports Federation people came in to explain how the different activities were going to work, and lastly, our modified Olympic torch-toilet plunger was brought out to properly kick off the events.

Afterwards, we all went out to our various events, some played wheelchair basketball, and everyone had a great time being uber athletes. After lunch there was more Paralympics for whoever didn’t have a chance to play yet, while the younger division got to watch a mad scientist show in the gym, featuring ever-awesome dry ice! Watching the “smoke” billowing from different containers was baffling and exciting all at once.

After an awesome, sports-filled day, it was time to head back to our bunks and get ready for the last Shabbat of Camp Simcha Special 2010!!!

The good times never end here at Camp Simcha Special! Today was Underwater Day, and oh my, everyone was walking around in all sorts of different underwater costumes, from SpongeBob to The Little Mermaid, which definitely added a splash to the theme of the day. We even added a special underwater activity, SCUBA diving! A professional SCUBA diver was brought in to show our campers how it’s really done, and then they were allowed to go in and do it themselves, either in the pool or the lake! All of the other workshops were in full force as well, as campers are scurrying along, trying to finish up their various projects before the end of camp. The older division also had their chance today to put on a talent show, showing off all of their different abilities and extraordinary talents.

At the end of the day, we had an awesome special activity in the gym featuring the ever-famous Simon Says superstar, Steve Maxx!

The three oldest divisions were then treated to special post-night activity activities, including a nighttime pool party, a movie night, and some more of the new hit elective intensive workshops.

All in all, another fantastic day here at Camp Simcha Special!

“Rollin’ in Camp Simcha” – Bike4Chai to Benefit Camp Simcha (Official)

Five days to go? Not a problem. We’re flying off into uber high gear! This morning during breakfast we all were wondering what that loud noise hovering over camp was. Upon exiting the dining room everyone was awed as they ran to the entrance of camp to take helicopter rides! Green, army fatigue-style T-shirts were given out to all of the campers and staff as each camper got a chance to soar high above the camp grounds.

Moving on, before lunch the whole camp went back to the entrance to wait for the ChaiBikers to arrive. 40 guys biked 135 miles from Lakewood to camp and managed to raise $200,000 for Chai Lifeline, an incredible feat on every front! We welcomed them through the gates in classic Camp Simcha fashion, with music, dancing, and an all-around party!

After lunch we had regular activities, until we were all called into the social hall for a special activity! Avi Junger became a Bar Mitzvah today, so we called in the world-renowned Jewish music superstar, Yaakov Shwekey, to come and entertain and help us celebrate this momentous occasion. The concert was rocking as usual, and it was followed by a celebratory dinner in honor of the Bar Mitzvah.

Finally, once we were all well-fed, it was time for camp to split up. The younger division went back to the social hall to show themselves and their amazing individual talents in the annual talent show, while the older campers had a splash at their pool party.

Once again, after a day filled with excitement and fun, it was time to go to bed and end this day in the same uber high-gear that it started in.

We had such an uber fun day here at Camp Simcha Special! The day was filled with activities, activities, and more activities! Today we even started this year’s newest addition, elective intensive activities, where the campers were given a list of 8 or so choices of activities or skills that they would like to do or learn, and they will be spending 2 hours a day for the next three days on those activities. It’s gone over so far really well, and the campers are all very excited to learn something new and different.

Besides for regular activities, tonight’s special activity in the social hall kept us laughing and entertained, as a ventriloquist and his puppet had several intensely funny conversations that we all enjoyed listening to. Afterwards, it was time to hit the hay as we anxiously await tomorrow’s uber-awesome fest.

A group of very enthusiastic bike riders left Lakewood, New Jersey today on their way to Camp Simcha!  The 40 members of the Bike4Chai have completed the first leg of their trek and are resting comfortably at Crystal Springs Resort in Vernon, New Jersey.  Tomorrow they will finally reach the pinnacle of their journey when they kick into high gear and ascend the mountain to join the jubilating campers, their highly exuberant counselors and the rest of the Camp Simcha staff in the Super, Uber Uproar Celebration!

For more info on bike for chai to Bike4Chai.com

Check out the Channel News 12 New Jersey’s coverage here.

Hehe, that’s not revealed until later. This morning during breakfast, everyone was directed out of the dining room to the parking lot across the road for our first fire drill of this session, which was done quickly, efficiently, and safely. Afterwards, it was time for some inspirational learning groups, followed by the first activity of Color War 2010, wheel chair races! Every camper in a wheelchair lined up at the start line and whooshed past at top speed towards the finish line with much fervor and excitement. Once we were all raced out, we all headed to team time to learn the team cheer songs, which we belted out in the dining room after lunch, with accompaniment from our very own Camp Simcha band, The British Invasion!

Taking a break from Color War for a little bit, we all headed to the social hall for an awesome performance by The Brain Show. Campers were called up, quizzed, and stumped as they were asked questions in a game show style.

Back to business, it was time for some activities. We had a massive car wash, meals on wheels, mini-golf, various water competitions in the pool and the lake, and an egg drop in the baseball field.

After activities, it came down to the final performances. Before dinner we had a major team time where we learned the Alma Mater songs. Both teams marched into supper, during which a theme related speech was given by campers.

At last, it was time for the Grand Finale. Emotionally moving Alma Maters were sung, comedic skits were performed, and “everlasting gobstopper” artworks were displayed.

The suspense kept building up in the social hall as Dembi stood up to announce the winner. After much deliberation and tension, we were all duly informed that the winning team was in fact…THE BLUE TEAM!

After a long day of intense competition, it was finally time to head back to our bunks and chill out and hit the hay, eagerly waiting for another amazing day here in Camp Simcha Special.