Donors Make Happy Camps
by LORI HIGGINS • Special to Freep.com
posted Wednesday, February 6, 2008

New hockey rink floors, horse barn and dining hall interior will greet kids heading this summer to an Ortonville camp, thanks to a philanthropic organization's challenge to donors.

It's an exciting development to Brian Langnas, an 11-year-old hockey enthusiast who said it was time for a new rink at Camp Maas.

"The old floors were so bumpy. It was hard to move the puck," said Brian, who lives in West Bloomfield. The new rink will be easier to play on, he said.

Tamarack Camps, a nonprofit headquartered in Bloomfield Township that runs Camp Maas and other programs, was one of 13 camps and camping organizations in North America selected last spring to participate in a challenge sponsored by the Massachusetts-based Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy.

With the goal of targeting new donors to help provide a Jewish camping experience for children, Tamarack raised $700,000, guaranteeing a matching grant of $200,000.
"We've had some facility needs for quite some time," said Jonah Geller, executive director of Tamarack Camps. The challenge "gave us the perfect catalyst for accelerating our efforts here."

The improvements won't just benefit the children who attend the camps during the summer. Non-Jewish school and community groups, youth groups and church groups use the facilities year-round, Geller said.

The Grinspoon Institute provided the camps with mentors who guided staff through the fund-raising process. The key was identifying people who had never donated or who hadn't donated in years.

Work is already being done at Camp Maas. The dining hall is getting a new interior that will make it look more like a log cabin. The two hockey rinks are getting new floors and sideboards.

Plans call for renovation of the camp's Butzel Conference Center, Geller said.
Laynie Langnas, Brian's mother, said parents appreciate the effort Tamarack Camps is putting into updating the facilities. Her three children have attended camp for years, and she and her husband are camp veterans.

"Sending your children to camp for four weeks is a luxury, so any improvement parents see, that they feel they're getting a lot for their money, is good," she said.

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