This year's San Francisco Camp New Harmony is Wednesday 12/27/17 to Monday 1/1/18

Registrations open on or about Sept 16, and close on or about Dec 1.

More news as it happens. Watch this space.

I won't post the workshop calendars until early November, but feel free to post your workshops now, if you like.

See you at camp!

-Joe Offer-

---

From Camp Newman's Facebook page 9 October 2017:

UPDATE:
As many of you may have heard, since 10pm last night, forest fires have been burning in Sonoma and Napa counties. It is with tremendous shock and sadness that we share that the majority of the buildings at our beloved Camp Newman home have been destroyed.
Right now, the reports are that the fires in the area are still burning. As you might assume, information coming out of the area right now is spotty. Our staff has not been able to visit camp, and may not be able to for a few days. We will, of course, provide you with more information as it becomes available. Please continue to check Facebook for ongoing updates.
Most importantly, we take great comfort in knowing that all of our staff are safe. We are so grateful to the first responders and firefighters who attempted to save our camp buildings. We are keeping these heroic and hardworking people in our thoughts and prayers as they continue to work to protect the people and the places in our Camp Newman neighborhood, for whom we will continue to pray. If you have evacuated your home and need a safe place with power and water, you can visit our wonderful Reform synagogue close to camp, Congregation Shomrei Torah.
We have been so moved by your outpouring of love, support and concern for camp. It is a powerful reminder that Camp is about our holy community, our kehillah kedosha.
In the weeks to come, we will share more details about our plans for the future. We will also provide a way for your children and teens to process this news, and how you can help.
Thank you for keeping Camp Newman and the beautiful land it occupies in your hearts and thoughts.
To all those who love Camp Newman and our community, together we will go from strength to strength,
Ruben Arquilevich, Rabbi Erin Mason, Michelle Tandowsky, and the entire URJ Camp Newman team and Advisory Board

The news sounds bad, but the camp committee will wait a few days and not make a decision until we get more specific information from the Camp Newman staff. The camp has built ten or so new cabins over the last five years, and a lovely health and welcome center. These new buildings are in spaces that are very "defensible," so maybe they survived. There are many other buildings that go back to the time when the camp was a military cooking school, and those buildings are in much more vulnerable locations. I'm hoping against hope, I suppose, but I think it's a good idea to wait until we get solid information.

-Joe-

---

22 Oct 2017
Well, we have a new location for Camp New Harmony. It will be at Camp Monte Toyon (click) at Aptos, just south of Santa Cruz. This camp is much smaller than we're used to, so registrations will be limited. We won't reopen registration until we've confirmed that everyone who has already registered, will be accommodated. Give us a week or two. Then we'll have a limited "early bird" discount period.
It's a beautiful camp in a beautiful location. Not a bad drive from the Bay Area, but tough on us Sacramento folks.
-Joe-

---

Here's the official word on the new location for Camp Harmony:

On Wednesday, October 25, 2017, 10:05:44 PM PDT, Margaret Miles via Harmony wrote:


As you are probably aware, Camp Newman will not be availablefor this year's Camp Harmony due to the devastating fires. We are grateful that staff were safely evacuated, and the camp is planning to rebuild.
We are very sad to lose a place with so many happy memories, but we agree with the Camp Newman staff who said that community is more about the people than the place, and so the Camp Harmony Committee has worked to find a solution so we can still hold our annual community gathering.

We are very pleased to announce that we will be holding Camp Harmony at Monte Toyon this year.? We researched and evaluated a number of alternative locations. Monte Toyon, located near Aptos, is available during the dates for Camp Harmony, is within our price range, and has facilities that are accessible for our members.? Please visit their website http://www.uccr.org/camp/ monte-toyonfor details about the facility.

Given the short notice, we are very fortunate that Monte Toyon staff are willing to give up their normal winter vacation to make their camp available to us, so please be sure to thank them.

While there was no site with all the advantages of Camp Newman, the committee felt it would be better to have a camp with limitations than no camp at all. The site is a beautiful spot in the redwoods. But it is smaller than Camp Newman and has room for far fewer campers.? There are no private rooms, and some people will have to sleep in upper bunks. Most likely, everyone will have to share a room with at least 2 or 3 others.

All bedroom buildings have men's and women's bathrooms with showers within the building. There is an option to sleep off site with meals served on site, at a lower cost. There are also a very few spots for tents, but at the same fee as those sleeping in bunks. RVs are not permitted.

The site's accessibility for people with mobility or other limitations is generally very good, and the kitchen will accommodate dietary restrictions.

We have sent emails to all who have already registered,offering them the option to keep, cancel, or modify their reserved place. Thosewho cancel by the deadline stated in the email will receive a full refund.

Once we've heard from those already registered, we will reopen registration. Since space is limited at our temporary alternate location, people who register after camp is full will be put on a waiting list pending additional cancellations. Please check the Harmony listserv, the sffmc.org website, and the SFFMC Facebook page for the latest information.

---

We have everything set up with Camp Monte Toyon at Aptos, but we still have a lot of decisions to make. Aptos is just outside Santa Cruz, so it's a 5-hour drive for me instead of three. I haven't seen Monte Toyon, but I understand it's an absolutely beautiful camp set in the redwoods. The buildings are close together, so we will not have a camp bus this year. The chapel is not completely accessible, but we think people should not have any trouble getting to other buildings.

Registration has reopened, but space is limited. As of this morning, there were only 46 spaces left. We could not continue the "early bird" registration discount because Camp Monte Toyon charges us more than Camp Newman did. The rate for 6 days of camp is $510. There is some campership money available for those who cannot afford the full fee.
Details (and camp photos) at http://sffmc.org/ - click on the "Camp New Harmony" link.

I'm not ready to post the schedule grids for workshops yet. We're having a camp committee meeting on Monday, and I'm hoping we will be able to decide about workshop times and venues then. If you'd like to lead a workshop, please post your requests now, and I'll put them on the schedule once I get a working schedule set up. Please post your first and last name, name of the workshop (no more than FOUR words), description of the workshop, and the day and time of day you'd like. Workshops will be on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - from about 9 AM to 6 PM, give or take an hour.

For now, all requests for workshops will be accommodated. I'll let you know in this thread when things get tight and some workshop times will be limited. But for now, we have lots of times and lots of spaces. I'll update this message early next week after our meeting, when I know more about workshop times and spaces.

See you at camp.

-Joe-