Thanksgiving

Hello my Timber Ridge friends and family,


What does Thanksgiving have to do with Timber Ridge?  This is a holiday that is not religous, it does not divide us it includes all of us.  It is a day about friendship and family.  That is what Timber Ridge has meant to Uncle Fred for 60 years.  Each day is more challenging then the past and yet on Thanksgiving families and friends get together and are just thankful that we have each other.   My house is always open for anyone who needs a place to be on this day.  But please call first!  People travel the most on this day because it is a day to be thankful.  It is warm and fuzzy and a fun day.  A day to realize it is all o.k. because we have family and friends that are there for us each and every day.  I remember being a little girl and waking up early to watch the Thanksgiving parades in excitement to see the new floats.  On this day,  I like to think of all the wonderful people I have met at Timber Ridge and how they have impact my life.  My best friend in the world Fran Blauer and how amazing she is.  Her life is one of dedication and love.  I am thankful I met her from camp and that she is my friend.  JM and how he has become my sidekick and hope his day is amazing.  I wonder what he is cooking for Thanksgiving.  Murray is coming from Pennsylvania and staying over so we can  see Fran.  Scuba has joined the table this year and is helping cook our feast.   The years fly by so quickly that it seems like yesterday when Jason Klein had my son's Zack's cabin cleaned the shower house at 6 a.m. because they refused to clean, or when Jason decided to build a bridge for the rope swing and sent my nephew Jeremy Kaufman to get tools.  He got tools and with Andrew Schwartzman  and drilled a hole in the canoe so it would sink.  I remember raiding the canteen when I was 16 and Uncle Fred yelling, Brett Panter get out of there, and out I came with my boyfriend of the summer.  He was shocked.  I remember walking to Green Briar to raid their canteen and toilet paper their cabins at 2 a.m.  I remember midnight trailrides with Jill Severn through the woods, and her yelling don't worry the horses know where they are going.  This summer sitting in front of Cabin 14 and 15 and helping from afar for them to get ready for bed.  Watching them swing from the rafters and counselors so frustrated.  But when I asked them to come outside and I said, "boys time to shower and get ready for bed",  Jacob Sobel and Stevie Ray got their stuff headed to the shower house laughing all the way, and the rest of the cabin turned off the lights and went to sleep.  The counselors thought I was the miracle worker, but I was only a mother.  I think often of Zack Kandel and love to watch how well he is doing, and he is still holding hands with Alexis Hyman.  A true camp romance.  Talking about true camp romances,  I remember staying up all night with Erica Herzog watching T.V. in the main house because she had 102 fever and we just watched, "I love Lucy" , "The Brady Bunch" and other reruns.  Now she is married with two children to her camp sweetheart, "Jordan Lubart".  Neil Herzog met his wife from a friend from camp and he has a child now too.  Then there is Adam Herzog and seeing him visit every summer is like he never left.  Adele their mother, once the ceramics instructor at camp, dressed for Thanksgiving in her grandchildren's school pageant as an Indian with her Timber Ridge gear on.  Thanksgiving a time to remember, a time to be together, a time to talk about the fun, the memories and a time to be thankful we can all be together to share this day.   Eat alot of turkey, sit long after the meal sharing,  and if your ears are buzzing,  we are talking about you with love.  Have a great day!

Remember when?

I was having supper with friends last  night and we were talking about the importance of camp.  It is now more important then ever.  This technological society has built brilliant minds that can not figure out how to fry an egg, or explain what is going on in their lives.  Talking, reasoning, living is not found on a computer or a text message.  Every year at camp we do not allow cell phones and every year most children bring them to camp.  We try our best to collect the phones so that friendships are made that last forever and not until the end of a poorly interpreted text message.  Last summer I thought it would be great to give back the cell phones the day before camp ended only to walk down girls row to children zoning out texting friends from home.  Immediately I collected the cell phones and suddenly the wonderful magic of friendship began again.  It was like a light switch and was so eery.  Anyway, I came home to this email from an old alumni.


Greetings,

I was looking at the Fall 2014 edition of The Rattler which included this year's Color War songs.  It made me think back to my summer as a counselor at White Mountain.  Paul and I introduced the concept and ran the first Color War that summer.  That was 1967 (OMG...is that really possible?).  I don't know how Color War has morphed over the years or if you adopted the concept of surprising the camp with the start of Color War and making that introduction bigger and more grandiose every year as we proposed.  With that in mind, I realized that this summer will be 2015 and therefore 50 years of Color War isn't that far away.  I would love to think that you would celebrate such a significant anniversary by somehow making it extra special.  My summer at White Mountain was just yesterday so 50 years of Color War must be coming up tomorrow.  That would mean it's almost time to start thinking about what special might look like.

BTW, I still remember my summer at Timber Ridge with great fondness.  I can only hope that my campers enjoyed their stay as much as I enjoyed mine.

Best wishes.

Bonnie Schlenker

50 years later I still know who Bonnie and Paul are and embrace their friendship and memories.

Camp is no longer a luxury it is a necessity for raising healthy, happy children and  young adults with memories , good memories that last a lifetime.

Memories!

"Tonight is the last night of camp and I don’t know what to say. I love this place so much. This is my favorite place. People say, “Why in the world would you want to go to camp?” Camp is life changing experience. There are so many things you can try. I’ve never played tens. Now I play it every day. I had so many firsts at camp. First experience with boys. Just kidding, they are weird. And lastly the first experience with living with people. I met my best friend at camp. I had a Hershey bar and water for canteen my 1st year of camp. I’ve met so many people I love. Next year we will all be seniors. In 30 years we will be at Hallan Restaurant talking about our lives we all plan on being CITs. We came to camp for a reason and that’s to see each other. We have the best counselors who have been in the place I am. I love camp so much and I hope all of you read this and agree with me. "

-Camper from Journals

In this journal we get the real meaning of camp. I read through the journals again today as we put the finishing touches to send them out by the end of next week. I can look back and remember the juniors running up and down the hills screaming and having a blast. Or the inters narfing all day and all night outside cabin 14 and 15. I also see the seniors sitting in the grove and chatting with one another. The children don't always take the journals as serious as they should, because they are the memories that you will have for a life time. Some memories may fade away and some might stay forever, but the journal is how to document every precious moment of your summer.

I remember Paige and Eleni going and moving Logan's bed to the flagpole for a prank. I remember moving the office to Jill's trailer for almost a week. I remember taking five cabins to Pack's. I remember making everyone's schedule (by the way your welcome). I remember hearing about David Schechter's first kiss of the summer. I remember sitting with Sophia Alembik and discussing with her friends that I have known her since she was a junior. I remember a lot from my summer and these are just a few of the many memories from the summer. 

The memories are going to live forever and it makes me want to go to camp. Fred is leaving tomorrow and it will be sad to see him go. And myself, Alex, and Jill have a camp fair to go to this Sunday, We are very busy right now, but I would love to hear about your favorite memory from the summer!

We miss you all! We cannot wait to see you next month!

Best,

Scuba Steve

Thank you for all that you have done!

Hello all! I cannot believe that we are only 218 days away from another amazing summer! We miss you all and cannot wait to see you in only a few more months.

We are in full swing right now. Jill is working on getting new campers. Uncle Fred is in last few days of recovery after his back surgery and getting stronger every single day. Alex is making sure business goes smoothly on a day to day basis. And I am currently finishing the journals full of your favorite camp memories and working on our next newsletter to send out. We are busy trying to make your summer even more memorable than the last.

I just want to give you a quick update and just take a moment and take a few minutes to discuss something very special with you. I had the chance to sit down with friend last week and with it being Veterans Day I just wanted to take a few second of your time. Uncle Fred was a veteran and he was also the one responsible for changing so many children's lives. He is responsible for relationships, for children laughing, crying, sharing, and changing. Children that have gone to Timber Ridge, Camp White Mountain or Camp Green Briar with Uncle Fred have changed for the better and were never the same after camp. They grew up at camp, the changed to be more humble, or they have just became a better person. And all of this was from one idea that Uncle Fred had and he acted on it.

So when your thanking your veterans today. Do not forget to thank Uncle Fred for all of the amazing accomplishments that he was able to achieve in just one life time.

I wrote this as my personal thank you to him. And I want to thank all of the other veterans out there. Have an amazing day.

-Scuba

Reunions

2014-2015  Reunions

Florida
December 26th 2014, 12pm-2pm Tradewinds Park
3600 W Sample Rd, Coconut Creek, FL 33066
As per Tradition!  Come for sports fun, friends, food and as always some surprises!
Bring your family and friends!

Maryland/DC/Virginia
January 25th 2015, 11AM-2PM
Adventure Park USA
11113 W Baldwin, New Market, MD 21774
Back by popular demand!  Join us for laser tag, Arcade games and friendship.

We can't wait to see you and find how your fall has gone!

New Blog

Welcome to our new blog of Timber Ridge Camps White Mountain and Green Briar!  We are looking forward to sharing all about our camp with you and the happenings! Stay tuned for new and fun information daily!