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Taking a Stand

by Ryan Rosen Post 06.22.20

As a children’s summer camp rooted in acceptance and providing a safe environment for everyone to be themselves, Camp Kinneret believes in a racially just society and that human rights should be equal for all. While we strive to achieve this idyllic atmosphere during our camp programs, we will work to help our campers and staff learn how their actions and words are important in achieving this same progress in our society. We recognize that we need to do more than create a safe space while children are in our care, we need to foster opportunities to recognize and understand our differences and what makes each individual unique and important. That means coaching children and staff to be anti-racist, to take that extra step in creating that progress we want to see in our society. At Camp Kinneret, Black lives matter. We will strive to ensure that their voices are heard and understood within our camp community.

We commit to provide our employees and campers of color with an environment where it is safe to ask questions, safe to speak up, safe to be yourself and receive the support you need to be the best version of yourself. We will review our practices from hiring, to training, to recruitment, to identify how we can be more inclusive of their needs and empower them to be their best selves.

We will partner with families to learn what your specific child needs most from us and to do our very best to provide them with that. We want your camper to have what every child deserves: fun and belonging without strings attached and without judgment or concerns.

Each summer, we speak to the value of the growth mindset; Being willing to challenge yourself to grow even when things are difficult. This applies to our organization as much as it does to the individuals who participate in it. We recognize there is more that we can do, to learn from past mistakes and failures, and to be better each day and each year at helping to create the idyllic society. While Camp Kinneret has been predominantly a white institution in the past, we need camp to be more diverse, for the leadership to be more diverse, and for camp to represent the larger community we wish to serve.

To our campers and families, thank you for trusting us to care for your precious children. It is our goal to provide a place where they are accepted for who they are and grow into who they wish to be.

To our employees, thank you for trusting us and choosing to learn with us. Thank you for committing your time to serve children and to impact our future.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

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