Herzl Camp seeks support here for renovations

Leaders of a campaign to raise $8 million to renovate and expand the facilities at Herzl Camp in Webster, Wis., reached out to Kansas City’s Jewish community this week.

With $4 million pledged thus far, it was appropriate, they said, that the first place outside of Minnesota’s Twin Cities to which they would look for support was KC — the camp’s second-largest annual source of campers.

The links between Kansas City and Herzl — which is not affiliated with any Jewish movement or Jewish Community Center — go back to 1954, when Rabbi Zvi Dershowitz, then of Congregation Beth Shalom, began an eight-year stint as summer camp director.
Camp Director Anne Hope estimated that 20 to 25 percent of Herzl’s campers each summer come from greater Kansas City. Half of the campers come from Minneapolis/St. Paul, and the rest from Midwestern cities like Omaha, Neb., and Des Moines, Iowa.

Anne Hope and Herzl Camp Development Director Holly Guncheon spoke to 16 local supporters Tuesday evening at the home of Jim and Fern Badzin. They explained the capital campaign using a drawing of the planned improvements.

Herzl Camp has had some famous alumni, including Bob Dylan and the filmmaking Coen Brothers, during its 63 years.

And now that some of the cabins on the property have reached 80 to 100 years old, leaders have launched a campaign to replace them and to make other improvements such as adding a gymnasium and a new arts and crafts building. More than $1 million will be spent to increase accessibility within the camp by those with physical challenges.

The women cited a raft of statistics about the ability of Jewish summer camp to form lifelong Jewish identity among the children who attend.

“We are looking for financial support, and for you to spread the word about who we are and what we are doing,” Guncheon told the gathering Tuesday evening.

Part of the $8 million will be used, Guncheon said, to increase Herzl’s supporting endowment, which, in turn, will be used to keep tuition down and fund scholarships.

It costs about $800 a week to attend Herzl, and up to 375 teens and pre-teens attend each of the six weeklong summer sessions, Hope said.

For more information about the camp or about the capital campaign, or to make a donation, visit www.herzlcamp.org, or call (952) 927-4002.

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