(KCJC) Camp communities kept apart in light of COVID, were brought together by a unique digital program this summer. Camp Sabra – a home away from home for many of the KC Jewish community – was one of many organizations participating.
The JCC Camps Flagpole Initiative also known as “Flagpole,” was a digital community rally of solidarity across Jewish camps through song. The initiative was funded by The Staenberg Family Foundation. The series of four events was created, produced, and hosted by Rick Recht. Each concert featured performances by nationally prominent Jewish musicians along with inspiring messages from JCC camp community leaders, directors, counselors, campers and alumni. The four concerts were streamed via the JCC Association’s Facebook Live page to the entire North American Jewish community.
Flagpole was a response to the COVID-19 lockdown. During this uncertain time, the program’s goal was to provide a social, emotional, and spiritual uplift to the Jewish community. It strove to bring people together, despite sheltering-in-place requirements keeping people physically apart.
“Offering programs like that and the countless other programs we are offering through our Virtual J is incredibly important to us to keep the community connected and engaged during this pandemic,” Jim Sluyter, CEO and president of the Jewish Community Center of Greater KC wrote to The Chronicle. The J encouraged the Kansas City Jewish community to participate by sharing the program on their website and social media pages.
The Flagpole Initiative took its name from the daily camp ritual of gathering around the flagpole to sing, make announcements, raise or lower the flag, and start and end the day as a united community. Many who attended Jewish summer camp have fond memories surrounding the flagpole. The Flagpole series debuted on May 13, 2020 and concluded on June 8, 2020.
Each Flagpole event lasted about 30 minutes and was broken up into themed segments, each featuring a guest artist, a guest commentator delivering a message, and a provocative question inviting participant response and interaction. Themes included gratitude, heroes, community resources, and the like. Each of the elements within a segment were linked by the theme. Repeating this format for each Flagpole event empowered increasing numbers of participants to interact both with the program and with one another – via Facebook’s chat function.
Commentators included JCC executives, camp directors, and educators from across North America. Campers, staff members, and camp alumni were also featured in the various 60-second guest spots. Their appearances created a broad movement-wide sensibility to Flagpole, while anchoring the program in local JCC communities.
The JCC Flagpole Concert series reached an audience of over 80,000 unique users. Roughly 3,000 people continued interacting with Flagpole’s content after the series aired live by sharing, viewing and commenting on the videos. JCC camp directors agreed that Flagpole provided, “… an emotional boost to my camp community in a difficult time.” One representative testimonial stated, “It provided me light and joy to be able to share beloved songs with my son. Songs that brought back positive memories of Jewish Summer camp and community that I first experienced at time in my life that helped to shape who I am today.”