By: Aaron Perez
I want to come back to camp every year.This is a place that changes the world for a lot of kids, says 16-year-old Nancy Rodriguez,a sophomore at Grand Prairie Texas High School. I was shy and quiet
“I want to come back to camp every year.This is a place that changes the world for a lot of kids,” says 16-year-old Nancy Rodriguez,a sophomore at Grand Prairie Texas High School.“I was shy and quiet when I first came to camp,and it helped me open up a lot. I learned how to handle a lot of things in my life and I’m glad I get to do that for other kids now.” Rodriguez has felt the impact of Camp Impact,the socialservice commitment of Congregation Beth Shalom’s ARFTY (Arlington Federation of Temple Youth), an affiliate of North American Federation of Temple Youth.In May,Rodriguez,who first came to Camp Impact as a 10-year-old living in a shelter,served what she hopes is the first of many summers as an honorary counselor.
Celebrating the camp’s 10th anniversary, it was the counselors who convinced Camp Director Al Fratina to bring her on board. “Until now, all of our counselors have been members of ARFTY, but the kids knew what camp has meant to Nancy and more so what Nancy has meant to camp.”
Camp Impact, a weeklong day camp, provides a summer of memories,growth, warmth and care for over 80 abused, homeless,shelter and disadvantaged children in Arlington and Grand Prairie. It has received national recognition by earning the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism’s Irving J. Fain Social Action Award in 2001.
Throughout the year, the student members of ARFTY plan the camp’s theme and programming, hold fundraisers, and are ready to make a difference. “I never knew how close poverty, abuse and tragedy were,”said Mia Avramascu, 17, back from her fourth year as a counselor. “It’s a good feeling knowing that by giving these kids a week at camp we are giving them a safe and fun environment. To see the change in the campers, day-to-day and year-to-year, is incredible.Many come in shy and hesitant and by the end of the week are willing to hug and be hugged and their interaction is very special.”
ARFTY members raise all funds for the camp through raffles, donations and other activities.Each year,a T-shirt design contest is held and spaces are sold throughout the community.“It’s an easy decision to participate,” said Randy San Antonio, president of Warrentech Direct. “It doesn’t take a large commitment to help out,and Al and the kids work so hard on this project that does such incredible work.” San Antonio, a member of Beth Shalom, who has made donations both on behalf of his company and himself, hears the positive camp stories firsthand from his children,Gian and Phoebe,who have served as counselors. To commemorate the anniversary, the names of all counselors who’ve served through the years, made their way to print. “We wanted to honor all of the kids who’ve worked so hard to get us here,” said Fratina.“So many come back year after year,even after they’ve gone on to college. Camp is important to these kids and its
really a beautiful thing to watch how much they care.”
“Every leadership position I’ve held in high school and in college comes from my experiences at Camp Impact,” said Lance Friedensohn, a three-year Camp Impact director and senior at the University of Oklahoma. “I’ll be coming back every year.” Friedensohn’s brother Josh was one of the camp’s founders and younger brother Chad served as the 2006 Student Camp Director.
“Caring is contagious,” said Avramascu. “You watch the love and devotion that Al and Cindy give to camp,and that’s with their other careers and their own lives too,and you just want so much to be a part of it.” A Grapevine High School senior,Avramascu isn’t certain of her professional future,but she knows whatever she does, she wants it to support her desire to help others.“Camp Impact has definitely affected me and I plan to start a foundation to help those who are less fortunate. I want to make a difference.”
Sharing in Camp Impact is a family affair for the Fratinas. Al, a former landscaper, now a math teacher at Arlington Texas Nichols Junior High and Beth Shalom’s youth group advisor, followed his wife Cindy and children Danny, Lauren and Michael as a volunteer five years ago.“I came to understand that working with children is my calling and it is what I was meant to do. I can’t express the joy that comes from being a part of Camp Impact, teaching and being with the kids. I’ve seen our counselors transformed from children to young adults; the maturity they gain by participating in the planning and carrying out of the full program,”said Fratina.“I see our campers change as they learn to trust, they grow to feel, and they let go and smile.”
More than 80 campers attended the 2006 session of the Congregation Beth Shalom ARFTY chapter’s “Camp Impact,” a weeklong day camp, that provides a summer of memories, growth, warmth and care for abused, homeless and disadvantaged children in Arlington.
While the 35 counselors and adult support volunteers sleep at the camp, campers are picked up each day and arrive in time for breakfast.Camp activities include arts and crafts, swimming, singing and more. Lunch and nutritional snacks are also part of each day. Entertainers and motivational speakers covering topics such as health and hygiene, stamping out drugs, how to succeed in school and how to make positive life choices, bring education, fun and spirit to each session. On the last day of camp, the site is morphed into a grand carnival with water dunking booths, cotton candy, inflatables, and more.“The kids are just amazed as one activity after another is revealed, and every memory made is eye candy for campers and counselors alike,” said Fratina.“Campers go home with frames they’ve made with group pictures, moments captured, art projects, and their hearts filled. It’s always very hard to say goodbye.”
“We all hear about the problem of homelessness, but when you look into the eyes of the children, when you see the reality of what not having the most basic of needs; a home, food and clothing, does to a child, you want to be there,” said professional ventriloquist Nancy Burks Worcester of Nancy & Friends, who returned to perform pro bono for a third year.“Anytime Al Fratina calls me, I’ll be there.”
In keeping with the 2006 camp theme of “Superheroes”— ARFTY members and alumni are definitely the greatest of superheroes, indeed — and Nancy, too, appears able to leap tall buildings and life’s greatest challenges in a single bound.
---ARFTY is a youth group comprised of 8th through 12th graders who volunteer at different organizations/charities and host ARFTY’s incredible Mitzvah Project – Camp Impact. Website: www.bethshalom.org
