Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel Introduces TSTI Camp@Home

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J., May 27, 2020 – Camp may not include playgrounds or swimming pools this year, but that isn’t stopping Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel (TSTI) from offering a realistic camp experience with TSTI Camp@Home for children in preschool through second grade, which begins on Monday, June 15.

After making a very successful transition to online learning, community-building and worship in response to stay-at-home guidelines this spring, it’s only fitting that the temple take on summer camp. Young children throughout the community will have the opportunity to sing, dance and learn alongside their “bunkmates” with as close to a typical summer camp experience as possible.

TSTI will hold an online open house for interested families on Thursday, May 28th at 9:00 a.m.; email tsticamp@gmail.com to register. Parents will meet Bela Barbosa, director of TSTI Camp@Home, as well as education directors, Carol Paster and Mindy Schreff. Camp counselors will guide families through a mini day-camp experience.

The 10-week program will be broken into flexible one-week modules, Monday through Friday, with regular programming and special activities.

• Camp will start with campers and counselors gathered around the proverbial flagpole setting the tone for the day with music.
• Bunk activities such as Lego Masters, American Sign Language, Animal Action, Wonder Wednesdays, Dance Party, and All About …will follow.
• The day will end with everyone coming together for Mindful Movement and Breathing.

In a new technological twist that replicates the camp experience, campers will move through the day with their bunks and counselors, going automatically from activity to activity without needing to log on or off.

“We are very excited about the program we have put together in these unusual times,” said Barbosa. “TSTI Camp@Home offers campers a way to play and learn together with their friends, while simultaneously promoting self-expression and building independence.”

“TSTI Camp@Home gives kids the chance to be together, even when they’re apart, something they are craving,” said Paster, TSTI’s early childhood education director. “Community is a key value at TSTI, and given today’s extraordinary circumstances, this is an innovative and wonderful way for us to help young families create connection.”

Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel (TSTI) is a dynamic, inclusive Reform congregation that offers numerous ways for members to connect with and celebrate being part of the Jewish community and the world. Welcoming Jews by birth or by choice, interfaith, traditional and non-traditional families, and children of all abilities, TSTI provides lifelong learning and enriching programs for all members through a full complement of religious services, early childhood and religious school education, cultural programs, and activities that foster connection, engagement and community outreach in a joyful, judgment-free environment. TSTI is located at 432 Scotland Road in South Orange, drawing members from Maplewood, South Orange, West Orange, Short Hills, Millburn, Livingston and surrounding areas. For more information, visit www.tsti.org.

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