Blog

By Ashley Schlaeger There is a power in this place and timeIt shapes the rest of our livesAnd when we return each year we findA truth we can’t deny. Dan Nichols, Chazak This was one of the first quotes I heard at camp, and I always questioned what it meant. I have...

by Joe SladeSenior Assistant Director This has been a year of great change for me: 12 months ago, my wife Alison and I lived in Atlanta, where I worked at a university, and spent much of my (admittedly limited) free time socializing with friends or riding my bicycles....

By Carly Hooker“Mommy, I want to go to camp.” I made this statement for the first time at the tender age of 7 years old after a presentation at my temple by Rabbi Ron Klotz, camp director at the time. My mom’s initial reply was something along the lines of, “But...

By Richard Keitel Shalom everybody! I wanted to reintroduce myself. My name is Richard Keitel and I am very excited to return to GUCI to be this summer’s project director.  Let me tell you a little something about me: I am a Professor of Theatre at Point Park...

By Ben Diamond Back in 2003, I went away to GUCI for a two-week session, in what I thought would be my only camp experience.  Today, those two weeks have turned into twenty-eight weeks, and I’ve gone from a young camper to a staff member.  When I first came to camp, I...

By Rabbi Mark Covitz Director, URJ Goldman Union Camp Institute. Each April, Mark goes to Israel with other URJ Directors to meet our Israeli staff members and to prepare them for their upcoming adventures in URJ camps. Early morning, perhaps too early, everybody has...

During these cold days of winter, here’s a reminder of the warm magic of GUCI, excerpted from a sermon by Stephen J. Werber, father of Rabbi Lauren Werber, a faculty member from Temple B’nai Abraham in Elyria, Ohio.  A short time ago my wife Joan and I decided to help...

Casey, a long-time camper and staff member, learned about Gift of Life during a presentation at GUCI’s staff training week in 2011. Most of our 2011 staff registered with the Foundation, and Casey’s experience as a bone marrow donor is detailed below. GUCI is so proud...

By Rabbi Mark CovitzDirector, Goldman Union Camp Institute  The tragic events that accompanied the arrival of Hurricane Sandy this past week have been a reminder of both the fragility of human life and the generosity of the human spirit.  Previously unimaginable...

by Rabbi Javier E. Cattapan Reprinted from RJ.org This summer, after a 15-year hiatus, I decided to spend time working at a Jewish camp – GUCI, in this case. I happened to pick the last two weeks in June thinking the weather would cooperate, yet, Indiana’s early...

Dear GUCI Family, Hello! This is quite a bittersweet email for me to write. As some of you know my final official day working at G.U.C.I. is today.  Serving as the Assistant Director the last 4 years has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.  It’s truly...

I’m so excited to be the new Assistant Director at Goldman Union Camp. This was my first summer at GUCI since 2002, and on my first day I was struck by how many people walked up to me and said “welcome home.” After my arrival was announced to the broader GUCI...

Monday we celebrated a very special day, Yom Israel. The day was planned and hosted by our four Israelis on staff. Campers gathered in the Mercaz Tarbut to watch a movie about Israel and to learn a little bit more about our Israelis here at camp. Then they were split...

Danny Nichols is back at G.U.C.I. for the second time this summer. He just couldn’t miss rocking out with Kallah Bet campers and last night Danny put on a private concert. After dinner campers headed down to the Mercaz Tarbut and anxiously awaited their favorite...

It’s that time of session again, Yom Sport! Yesterday was the day that all of the campers wait for and it was one of the best Yom Sports’ we have seen! Campers woke up to a regularly scheduled day and attended breakfast, until Reid Myers, Program Director, lost his...