Blog
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Honoring Dr. Audra Kaplan
May 21, 2021
In 2015, Fred Levick and Geoff Menkowitz recruited Dr. Audra Kaplan to help create a new Tikvah program at Ramah Darom. While other Ramah Camps had been running successful Tikvah programs for several years, Audra had a unique vision: to make Tikvah part of the fabric of the overall Camp community. Rather than a separate […]
Wally Levitt
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Gaining Work Skills Virtually
July 23, 2020
The news of Camp Ramah Darom’s closure this summer was difficult to process for campers and staff alike. At Camp, our Tikvah Vocational Program (TVP) participants would have worked as tzevet (staff) in the gan (daycare for staff children), omanut (art), rikud (dancing), in the Camp office or at Café Darom. The opportunity to build […]
Becky Birch
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A Very Special Gesher
February 20, 2020
Our family has been going to Ramah Darom since 2005, when we were part of the first Camp Yofi with our daughter Maya. At the time we were a struggling New Jersey family with a struggling child with autism. On a whim, we signed up for something that had never been attempted (a family camp […]
Dan & Claude Winn
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Things We Could Only Hope For
February 17, 2020
My husband, Dan and I both spent our summers going to sleep away camp. Some of our best childhood memories were being outside, swimming in the lake, making new friends and being away from home. We knew that when we had kids we would want them to experience the joy of sleep away camp just […]
Toby Brodtman
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Tikvah Support Continues to Grow
January 29, 2020
In 2015, we opened the Henry and Annette Gibson Tikvah Support Program at Camp Ramah Darom, supporting seven campers and beginning a transformation of our community. Since then, we have introduced ideas of inclusion through countless conversations, activities and sometimes by sheer force of will. We have helped campers manage new challenges and friendships, while also learning […]
Audra Kaplan
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A Visit to Sesame Place
December 19, 2019
Last week Ramah Darom’s Director of Camper Care and Tikvah Support, Dr. Audra Kaplan, and Director of Camp Yofi, Susan Teckteil, spent some time learning at Sesame Place. They joined representatives from 15 other Jewish camps, including three other Ramah camps, that received Yashar Initiative grants from the Foundation for Jewish Camp to improve accessibility of […]
Robyn Diamond
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Welcome to Café Darom
October 3, 2019
This past summer our Tikvah Vocational Program (TVP) participants, opened and ran an in-camp coffee shop! Café Darom served various flavors of hot and iced coffee, as well as hot chocolate to the staff at Ramah Darom. As baristas took orders, operated Keurig machines and made each order, they improved skills such as organization, customer […]
Maya Albin
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Hannah’s Path Along the Yellow Brick Road
September 17, 2019
“You’ve always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself.” – Glinda the Good Witch Imagine if you will, that my youngest daughter, Hannah, is a little like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She leaves Kansas, (or Alpharetta, GA) for a mythical wonderland of Oz (or Camp Ramah Darom). […]
Carla Birnbaum
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Making Camp a Home Away from Home for Every Child
February 1, 2019
Five years ago, I was given the awesome task of making Camp Ramah Darom a place for every child, regardless of ability or perceived “limitations.” So began the Tikvah Support Program. Every summer, we work hard to bring education to staff throughout camp, enabling us to better support campers with varying needs. We have grown […]
Audra Kaplan
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Proof of the Power of One
February 1, 2019
This past week, summer staff member and alumna Rachel Kriegsman was honored at the Greater Atlanta Jewish Abilities Alliance’s Power of One celebration for her work as part of the Camp Ramah Darom Tikvah Support team. Rachel joined 30 other honorees for an evening celebrating those making an impact in the area of inclusion. Geoff Menkowitz, Director […]
Robyn Diamond