Usually when an Israeli comes to Kansas City for the summer to work at summer camp, it’s to spend time teaching Jewish children about Israel. This summer the Boy Scouts of America are the beneficiaries of the expertise of Israeli Scout Shir Gilo, who is spending the summer as a camp counselor at Camp Naish, a 1,100-acre camp located in Bonner Springs, Kan.
Gilo, 24, is a native of Beit Hashmonay; a small village located about 5 kilometers south of Ramla in central Israel. Beit Hashmonay is under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional Council, which has a close relationship with the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City and a sister-city relationship with the city of Leawood.
She got connected with the Boy Scouts of America Heart of America Council through Terry Dunn, president and chief executive officer of JE Dunn Construction. Dunn’s wife Peggy Dunn is the mayor of Leawood. He was a member of a delegation from Leawood that traveled to Israel in October 2011 to attend dedication ceremonies for two sites named in honor of Leawood — Leawood Square and Leawood Trail.
While he was in the Jewish state, Dunn, an active volunteer for the Boy Scouts who serves on the national board of directors and is past president of the local board, met with a group of Israeli Scouts, known in Israel as Tzofim. That’s how he met Gilo.
“Shir was a founder of her village’s troop and I mentioned if she had an interest in coming here, my wife and I would be happy to sponsor her,” Dunn said.
Gilo explained she was Dunn’s guide for the visit with the Tzofim.
“He asked me if I wanted to come and see Scouts in the U.S. and I said of course I want to,” Gilo said.
When she completed her army service a couple of years ago, Gilo worked for a year as an Israeli Scout leader. Unlike Scout leaders in the United States, Gilo explained that Scout leaders in Israel are paid professionals, not volunteers.
Gilo is very proud of the Tzofim, the first Zionist youth movement in Israel founded in 1919. While similar to the Boy Scouts of America, its members are both boys and girls and it was the first egalitarian Scouting movement in the world. The Tzofim have about 90,000 members, both Jewish and Arab, in Israel, with more than 160 tribes (troops) in almost 100 cities, towns, moshavim and kibbutzim.
Gilo is a pioneer of sorts because the Tzofim troop in her village was established when she first joined the organization. She said the organization has been very instrumental to her small village.
“I can tell that before the Scouts and after the Scouts the village doesn’t look the same. People are more united, people are now one big family,” she said.
The others that were in her troop are all still very close.
“It’s amazing. It changed my life as well as my brother’s life and my sister’s life. It’s something that’s very, very important in my family,” she said.
Gilo’s father even spent time as a guide for the Tzofim Friendship Caravan, a group of Israeli Scouts that travels throughout North America each summer as emissaries, sharing their lives in Israel through song, dance and story. A Tzofim Friendship Caravan has stopped in Kansas City several times during the past few years.
So Gilo jumped at Dunn’s offer to spend a hot summer in Kansas.
“I wanted to come to the U.S. because I like to see other cultures, even though the U.S. and Israel are similar in a lot of things,” she said.
Not long after Gilo met Dunn, she quit her job as a Scout leader to travel with another friend she met in Tzofim who was a troop leader in Gezer. It’s not uncommon for Israelis to travel in between military service and attending college.
“I spent four months in the east (including Kathmandu, Nepal),” she said. “When I came to the United States it’s really two sides of the world.”
Gilo is a part of a counselor exchange program that’s in place at Camp Naish. Last year the camp hosted counselors from Taiwan and in the past have had counselors from the Czech Republic.
As a member of the pool staff, Gilo gives swimming lessons and helps the boys earn the swimming merit badge.
“I teach them all the things you need to know in the water … swimming, how to save people in the water and how to save yourself.”
She really enjoys working with kids one-on-one.
“The best is when you have a kid who is afraid of the water who then has a smile on his face after he learns to float,” she said.
“In the end he went from being terrified to having a huge smile on his face. That was my best day here so far,” she continued.
Gilo is enjoying her time at Camp Naish.
“The people are amazing. Everybody is so happy. They like to help and want me to feel at home all the time. It’s amazing.
They help me make my work here amazing,” she said.
Dunn said he and the mayor were glad to underwrite Gilo’s job at Camp Naish this summer. He believes it’s been a positive experience for everyone.
“I’m getting great reviews from all,” Dunn said.
Gilo will be at Camp Naish until it ends on Aug. 6. She will fly home a couple of days later.
She has had a few days off here and there, but basically she is at Camp Naish all the time. Before camp began she spent time with two host families and toured the local sites including the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum and the Jewish Community Center.
Ironically, one of the two shlichot working at the JCC this summer, Paz Riecher, is Gilo’s cousin.
“It’s funny, I never met her in Israel. I met another cousin when I was in India and she told me that her cousin would be here,” Gilo said.
Since she’s been at Camp Naish, she’s been inducted into the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s National Honor Society. Its mission is to fulfill its purpose as an integral part of the Boy Scouts of America through positive youth leadership under the guidance of selected capable adults.
“It was a really impressive ceremony. It was very, very special for me,” Gilo said.
She’s enjoyed comparing the Scouting system of the two countries.
“It’s different than in Israel. The basic main goals are the same but how you get it is different and its’ very interesting to see how the Scouts work here,” she said.
When she completes her time at Camp Naish, she will become a student at Jerusalem University. She plans to study Bible and Judaism.
In the future, Gilo hopes to continue working in some capacity with the Scouts.
“I really, really, really love it,” she said. “They need adults who can help them and direct them what to do. They helped me understand things about myself.”