Jookender Family Camp September 2022
Welcome to Jookender Young Adults Family Camp!
We have been waiting to come together for a very long time and the moment is here. Our Shabbaton/YA Family Camp is on!
If you’re a new family who has never camped with us in prior, please read carefully the description. If you are a returning family, please, also read it!
This event will take place at Camp Avoda, 23 Gibbs Rd, Middleboro, MA
The camp lasts from Friday night (Check in - 6:00pm) to Sunday afternoon (Check out – 3:00pm)
Our camp is different from other Family Camps, we focus on the Adults and will have a wide selection of activities during the time spent together.
For the children, we will be dividing them by age-appropriate groups, and Teen-Volunteers will be assigned to them. Teen-Volunteers are responsible to deliver your kids from one class to another, and, if capable and scheduled for – fill-in the gaps between scheduled activities. Please, treat our Teen-Volunteers (TVs) as children too. They are not responsible for the safety of your children – you do. This is a family camp, and parents are obliged to take an eye on their children.
We will be happy to invite Teenagers age 15 and up, who are either green card holders or citizens (for security reasons) to become Teen-Volunteers at the camp, FREE of Charge, as long as they are capable of performing the tasks well. If you’re not sure, please contact Nikol Lupu, our Teen-Volunteer Coordinator at nicoletabest03@gmail.com
We will have a few very limited openings for the adult volunteers. Please, contact Sasha jookender@gmail.com prior to signing up as a volunteer at the camp. A max. one Adult-volunteer per family can be assigned. If you’re an adult-volunteer coming along with your family, first register the other members of your family through the regular site, and then register yourself through the Volunteer’s page. If you’re coming just with your children, then register yourself and your children through the volunteer’s page.
Most of the Teachers for this camp have been already secured and contacted separately. If you’re a Teacher/Instructor, you will be also registering through our Volunteer Form.
While teen volunteers participate free of charge, no matter which unit they are assigned to, adult volunteers are free only if they live in a bunk unit or a tent with their family, or if they commute.
This is just a camp, so you need to bring everything with you. The bunkhouse rooms are equipped with twin bunk beds, matrasses, dressers, and electricity. There is one portable heater per room. It’s up to you, if you wish to move the beds around, add a bed, remove one, etc. Due to COVID precautions, only one family will be placed in a separate room in the Bunk House. But later on, you, at your own will may add more people to your bunk unit. They will all have to pay p/p fees, but at least they can share your fun!
Each Bunk House has 2 wings, each wing – one room, and they share bathrooms: 4 sinks plus 4 toilet cabins in each). The Shower House is a separate building (one for men, one for woman). Some bunkhouses are now equipped with outside, but attached to the bunkhouse, shower cabins. One more thing about the Bunk houses. The house numbers get changed every time – that’s the camp policy. So, if you’ve been in bunk 1 last time, this doesn’t mean that the same building will have that same number this time. Please, allow us to figure out, which unit is better for your family in particular.
Lux houses set apart from other houses. You still need to bring your personal belongings, blankets, pillows (or sleeping bags), linens and towers with you. Actually, linens are provided, but we highly recommend you to bring your own. It is definitely less noisy there. You’ll be able to place your car next to the unit or as close as possible to the unit, instead of bringing it back to the parking lot. On the registration form, there is a short description of each building and you’ll be able to select a Lux house on your own, based on the availability. There is a room for a few tents in the same area, but we will only be placing them there, if you express any interest in having your friends in tents live near you and use your bathroom facilities.
Jookender recommends Tent as a type of living unit to all those who loves camping and outside. That’s the best and most flexible option. But – you need to understand, that in this case, in addition to other things and personal belongings, you would need to bring Tent, as well. For the real Campers, as well, as for the commuters, there are several public bathrooms located all over the property.
Schedule: As always, our schedule is based on several things: 1. Skilled Volunteers 2. Grants 3. Number of people signed up and paid full price for the camp. Therefore, we cannot have schedule for you right away. But trust us, we’re already working on schedule day and night, polishing and perfecting it. If you wish to look at one of our previous schedules (2019) camp schedule, download it from here. We will be informing you through our newsletter, as well, as through our Facebook group of any new/secured classes or events we’ll occur on camp.
Bracelets: we’ll try to make sure, each child’s group is no more than 15 kids/3 Teens, unless we have some activities that are for several groups at the same time, like sports activities, or animal show. We will also try to make sure, each group has an opportunity to make it everywhere, instead of signing up to one class or another. This might or might not be true with the Adults. Adults will not be divided by groups and will be able to join any activities, based on the spots available at the moment. Adults will all be belonging to 3 groups – commuters, participants, and volunteers/instructors. And this will be the only distinguisher between them. Each group will be wearing its color bracelets. Please, do not remove them. Teachers will not admit people without bracelets to their class (unless they are under 3 y.o.). Teen-Volunteers will be wearing 2 bracelets – one, green will represent their belonging to the group of Volunteers, and the other bracelet will depend on the group of assigned children, so parents and children could recognize their leader.
Teen-Volunteers: Please, remember, they are still children. We haven’t had camps for a few years, and the previous “generation” of the Teen-Volunteers went to colleges, graduated, or simply disappeared. The newly-selected Teen-Volunteers are inexperienced, and cannot be fully reliable. The Teen-Volunteers will be told to obey our rules and our assignments, not yours. They will be given specific requests, and they will be performing specific tasks for us. Please, make sure you understand, they will not change diapers, and will not babysit someone’s child, if the child refuses to be part of the group. They simply don’t have the capacity to do so. Please, be a responsible parent, not just a young adult came to get some fun.
Food: based on our conversation with camp, and your previous requests, food will include meat, chicken, pasta, rice, salad bar and deserts. If you note your allergies or medical diets (e.g. diabetes) on the registration form, the camp will accommodate you. Things, like milk replacement or any perishable food items can always be requested at the dining window, because that cannot be stored w/o a refrigerator for a long time. Snacks will also be included. Moreover, if you fill hungry, come any time to the kitchen, and “Grandma Ronni” will find something for you to chew on.
Parking: in designated areas only. No parking at the grass field at all. Once unpacked, please, move your vehicles to the designated parking area outside of the camp (where you've checked in upon arrival). Do not block roads and field entrances - they must be available for the Emergency vehicles entrance.