Calif. Ramah gets grant to upgrade special-needs dormitory
Camp Ramah in California’s special-needs program is getting a shiny new update.
The camp, which is affiliated with the Conservative movement, has begun construction of a new dormitory to house the seven-year-old Ezra program, which aims to prepare special-needs adults for independent living and employment.
Funding for the dormitory comes courtesy of a $1 million grant recently given to the camp by the Stone Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego.
The new dormitory, which will be completed by June, will provide housing and communal space for Ezra participants and their counselors, including lounges and a kitchen.
Participants in the seven-week-long Ezra program range in age from 17 to 22. The program provides job training in service areas around the camp, life skills classes, recreational activities and Jewish community interaction during participants’ stay at the Ojai camp.
For more information about Camp Ramah in California or the Ezra program, call (310) 476-8571 or visit www.ramah.org.
Scholarship available for Israel teen trip
The Milton Shapiro JNF Scholarship Fund will offer a $5,000 merit-based fellowship for two participants in the Alexander Muss High School in Israel.
Fellows will organize three programs for their peers to help build Israel advocacy skills and knowledge of current events. When they return, they will share their experiences with their community through presentations, articles, and other appropriate venues.
Applicants must already be accepted to the Muss program for the April to June trip or the December to January 2009 trip. To receive the scholarship, students must participate in and raise $360 through JNF’s Plant Your Way to Israel (www.jnf.org/pyw), a program to raise funds for travel to Israel by planting trees.
Applications must include a personal statement of no more than two pages, one academic letter of recommendation and one personal letter of recommendation. Deadlines for applications are Feb. 15 for the April-June trip and Oct. 6 for the December-January trip.
For more information or to apply, contact Erin Mindell at (212) 879-9305 ext. 245 or [email protected], or visit www.jnf.org/miltonshapiroscholarship.
Berlin Chabad to expand school
A Berlin day school is planning a major expansion. Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal, who directs the city’s Chabad, recently announced that Talmud Torah Or Avner will add on an elementary school building and a sports facility.
Or Avner’s kindergarten opened with eight students in 2004. Now 100 students from kindergarten to fifth grade attend the school, which is housed in a former Gestapo building.
Berlin officials have approved the architectural design, but because the city owns the property, a lifetime lease must be signed before construction begins, Teichtal said. No construction date has been set, and funding will come from private donations. — jta
Jewish agency pledges laptops for all
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert launched a Laptop for Every Teacher program, a pilot project supported by World ORT and ORT America, which ultimately will provide laptops to 60,000 teachers in Israel.
ORT’s initial contribution supplies 100 laptops to teachers at the Makif Aleph Junior High School in Be’er Sheva as well as in four elementary schools whose pupils are expected to join Makif Aleph. “World ORT’s leadership has set the improvement and advancement of scientific-technological education in Israel as its goal,” said Robert Singer, director general of World ORT.
Minister Yuli Tamir welcomed the partnership between the government, the Israel Teachers’ Union, sponsors World ORT and the Mirage Foundation, Fujitsu-Siemens and the Athena Foundation, which initiated the program under the leadership of its founder Uri Ben-Ari, former executive vice president of Ness Technologies.
Camp provides a ‘preview’ for younger children
Kids too young for regular overnight camp? Habonim Dror Camp Gilboa in Southern California can give them a taste of the future.
Camp Gilboa, located near San Bernardino, has announced a new program, called Nitsanim (Hebrew for “seedlings”), a three-day, four-night camp for children entering second and third grades. The program will incorporate singing, Israeli dancing, hiking and field trips, and will join in some activities with the older Gilboa campers.
The camp runs from July 27-30 and costs $300, which includes meals, lodging and transportation to Los Angeles at the end of the camp. For more information, visit www.campgilboa.org or call (323) 653-6772.