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Elina and Ilya Miller were nervous about not fitting in at an American overnight camp.

But after three weeks at Camp Tawonga last summer, the two young emigres from Yekaterinburg, Russia (and now San Francisco residents) did not want to leave.

Ilya remembered how nervous he was the first day of camp. "Everyone seemed to know each other. But it didn't take long before I made friends with everyone," he said.

Elina, 12, and her brother Ilya, 13, were among 15 emigres who were able to go to the camp near Yosemite, thanks to camp scholarships from the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation's Endowment Fund.

"There are a lot more Elina and Ilyas out there and our goal is to one day help all of them," said Lydia Shorenstein, of JCEF's education and youth subcommittee

During their first two years in the United States, few emigre families can afford to send their children to Jewish camps or nursery schools, she said.

According to JCF statistics the average emigre household earns $14,000 in the first year, and less than $24,000 the second year.

Gayle Zahler, director of the S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children's Services Emigre Resettlement Program, said the JCEF funding helps provide for the first two summers of an emigre's camp experience.

Camp "brings young emigres into the Jewish community and provides them with a Jewish educational experience."

Each year the JCEF awards scholarships to more than 200 new emigre children. The funds, totaling $235,000, are distributed among nursery schools and camps including: Camp Tawonga, Camp Swig, Camp Gan Israel, Camp Chai Santa Rosa, Camp Young Judea West, and Jewish community centers in Belmont, Marin, San Francisco, Palo Alto and the Peninsula.

It was the first time away from home for Elina and Ilya, their mother, Yelena Miller, was worried her kids would be homesick. But, "they were so busy with their activities, they did not have time to miss me," she said.

Noting that this was the first time the children had been exposed to Judaism, she said, "In Russia there was no such thing as traditional religion. [Jewish] camps were very different."

And Yelena Miller said the Jewish camp also helped boost her kids' self-confidence and made them more independent.

A Brandeis University study reports that 84 percent of teen campers say camp has helped their Jewish identity. For Ilya and Elina, their camp experience led them to transfer from their public school to the Hebrew Academy.

"We now celebrate Shabbat at home, saying prayers, and singing Hebrew songs. We never did this in Russia."