Summer 2020 & Covid 19
As of June 11, 2020:
Dear Moshava Wild Rose Community,
Since the onset of this pandemic, we have spent countless hours searching for any possible way to open camp this summer. Our camp’s administrative team, its board of directors, and the medical committee have assessed a range of possibilities to create a way to open safely. We had developed a plan that would make this summer look significantly different. We were hopeful that this would allow us to be able to open our gates on Highway P and welcome our tzevet and chanichim.
It is with a heavy heart that we have determined we will not be able to run our camp program for Summer 2020.
We spent so much time putting plans together and trying to follow the ever-changing guidelines in this new COVID-19 reality. With the conflicting information about the virus and all the uncertainty that comes with it, a reality has been created where we cannot open our gates. While it would have been easier to have called off camp months ago, giving up is not the Wild Rose way. We took extra time hoping that enough would change. Ultimately, based on the assessment and recommendation of our medical committee, we were not comfortable running camp this summer. We write this knowing we did everything possible to have a different outcome.
While we understood this was a possibility, this was not the news we wished to share with you today. We wanted camp as much as you did. We pictured our 9th graders having their summer on “The Hill.” We were anticipating the launch of our new extended Mini Mosh program (which was due to popular demand). We dreamed of wearing blue and white with you at mifkad on Erev Shabbat. We yearned to daven on Friday night as one “machane” in our beautiful outdoor Beit Knesset, leading to dancing together, arm-in-arm, through our Chadar Ochel doors. We could taste the “Shabbos cookies” together. We expected to sing “Minyan Man” until after Shabbat ended, everyone standing on their benches. This list can go on and on. We have been longing to be together since August 2019. It’s very difficult for us to believe that it’s June and we are not counting down the days until we can all be together this summer.
Thank you all for your love and support throughout this process. Your hopeful emails and calls had motivated us to press on.
We know this is difficult for our entire community – our campers, staff, alumni, parents, grandparents, and all the friends of Moshava. The cost of not running camp is detrimental to our budget. At this time, we appreciate any sort of donation that can be made to help us continue to operate and build for our future – click here. For every dollar raised, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation will generously donate a 50% match (for example, if you donate $1,000, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation will match $500, making your donation to camp $1,500).
One thing that is clear, is how important this Moshava Wild Rose community is to each of us. When this pandemic started, we launched our virtual #campallyear programming. We plan to continue to connect with you virtually and will be offering some remote programming in July (more details to follow). We are currently exploring a variety of alternate programming as well. If we feel that any of these options are possible, we will immediately reach out to you and determine if there is interest.
Please join us on Motzei Shabbat for a Community-wide Havdalah at 9:30pm CST: Click here.
This is a hard day. Please click here to see a video Dikla made for our entire camp family. We will support each other, get through this, come out stronger, and even more grateful, for our wonderful Moshava.
Our 81st summer may not be the one we planned for, but we will still connect and make it a special one. At the same time, we will look ahead and start the planning for Summer 2021.
Dikla Weitzner, Director
Jen Koplow, Assistant Director
