OHEL's FREE Camp Safety Program and Camp Chessed Initiative Draws Large Interest at Camp Expo
Last week, OHEL Children’s Home & Family Services participated in the Association of Jewish Camp Operator’s annual Camp Expo. There were roughly 100 camp vendors advertising and promoting their various camp related activities and services, and over 1000 visitors, comprised of camp directors, head counselors, and senior staff.
OHEL retained their own booth, and promoted two important summer camp initiatives. The first was Team OHEL’s OHEL-thon Chesed Programs, a grassroots fundraising program at local day camps that promotes children raising funds for camp scholarships for foster children, children with disabilities, and children in domestic violence shelters. Laurie Szenicer explains that the OHEL-thon’s are fun and at the same time teach children about chesed. There are prizes and exciting programs that can be arranged in any camp in the tri-State area and Laurie will visit and enthusiastically promote the program with staff and campers. Give her call at 718 972 9338 for a fun program to be arranged at your camp this summer!
The second program was OHEL’s Camp Safety Education and Training Program for staff and counselors. OHEL’s certified social workers train camp’s staff in camper safety, abuse, and bullying prevention. There is no charge for these pre-camp training sessions.
Hundreds of individuals, from Jewish camps of all backgrounds, visited OHEL’s booth and expressed great interest in both programs and were especially thankful that OHEL could provide such an invaluable safety program at no cost and in a culturally sensitive manner.
For more information about either of these programs, or any other OHEL services which you can benefit from, please contact OHEL today at 1800-603-OHEL, access@ohelfamily.org or visit www.ohelfamily.org.
Since 1969, OHEL Children’s Home and Family Services has served as a dependable haven of individual and family support, helping people of all ages surmount everyday challenges, heal from trauma, and manage with strength and dignity during times of crises. Driven by service excellence, OHEL’s professional staff meet the myriad social service needs of the general community, while at the same time providing culturally-sensitive services to the Jewish community, including Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian speakers. Through highly-rated foster care, developmental disability, mental health, and other programs and services, OHEL provides supportive housing, treatment, care coordination, education, outreach and much more to elevate lives and strengthen individuals and communities in New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, Florida, California and worldwide on the web. David Mandel is the CEO of OHEL.