The Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England, now celebrating its 37th year, continues to grow and evolve, offering the Ramah experience to people of many ages with a wide range of special needs. Last summer, we initiated a program to hire post-voc eders graduates of our Tikvah Program as salaried employees to work in the newly-dedicated Herb and Barbara Greenberg Tikvah Guesthouse, a six-unit motel-quality facility. The guesthouse not only offers meaningful work opportunities for Tikvah campers, Vocational Education Program participants, and Tikvah graduates, but also allows guests to experience Shabbatot and ymei ragil at camp.
This summer, our guesthouse welcomed its first guests and it was filled to capacity every Shabbat and many mid-week days (for Ymei Iyyun, the board meeting for the Foundation for Jewish Camping, visits by rabbis in our communities, etc.) Each room is air-conditioned, with two double beds, a bathroom, and a sitting area. The hallmark of the Tikvah guesthouse is the fact that it is 100% Tikvah run and operated. While a Tikvah staff member serves as overall supervisor, her main role is to run daily staff meetings, oversee assignment of jobs, help workers figure out how to solve problems, and serve as a liaison to the camp director and to the office staff member responsible for booking guests.
Each morning, following the staff meeting, the post-voc eder assigned full time to the guesthouse opens the building for work. He and his staff (one to two members of the Vocational Education Program) begin the day by finding out how many rooms will be occupied that night. The team then moves into action! Guesthouse workers strip beds of dirty sheets, collect towels, and clean each room. They sweep the floors, clean the bathrooms, do all laundry, make up each room, clean the porches and water the beautiful hanging flower baskets on the porches.
Our Voc Ed supervisor was instrumental in securing a cleaning and room preparation protocol from a major international hotel chain, and our in-camp head of the laundry volunteered his time to model and teach proper techniques and steps for cleaning and making up a guest room. Guests consistently raved about the service and overall quality of the guesthouse.
We are proud that guests of Camp Ramah in New England can now experience the beauty of camp in the finest of accommodations, lovingly prepared and maintained by some of Palmers Finest. And many of our Tikvah families pray and dream that we will one day become a year-round guesthouse one that offers quality service and a place of employment and camaraderie for their children.