2022 Imagine That! Grant Recipient Is…

Four years ago, the JCC Chicago Women’s Board created the Imagine That! grant to help JCC day and overnight camps create new programmatic opportunities for summer camp. Every year, the Women’s Board awards the Imagine That! grant to an idea that is fun, inclusive, enhances campers’ lives, is through a Jewish lens and can be shared across other JCC Chicago camps.

This year, the JCC Chicago Women’s Board is excited award the Imagine That! grant to:

‘Z’ Frank Apachi Day Camp in Northbrook for its Hammock Village

Coming this summer, the Hammock Village will offer campers a place to congregate, connect, enjoy nature, relax, and reflect inside ‘Z’ Frank Apachi’s Pio-Zone for 4^th-7^th grade Pioneer campers. Colorful hammocks will hang from a central pole in a circular pattern providing the perfect space for campers to unwind and build relationships with one another.

“Build Upon Relationships, Chaverut (Friendships), Meaningful Conversations, Sharing, Empathy, Community, Listening”

 

‘Z’ Frank Apachi Director Stacey Skolnick shares that this new village is more important than ever amid the pandemic. “We recognize that our oldest campers need time to build meaningful relationships. The pandemic left them without face-to-face time to just be together. We believe that this will allow them natural opportunities to practice conversation, listening, sharing and empathy,” Skolnick said.

Beyond it being a hang out space, campers will experience several different types of activities including guided meditation. Skolnick says the vestibular stimulation that swinging provides is a natural therapeutic resource. It is commonly used to regulate and calm bodies and emotions. The Hammock Village will give kids a space to practice meditation and help them ground and organize themselves. It will provide them with a break from a very stimulating environment.

Hammock Village will support ‘Z’ Frank Apachi’s core values of kindness, honesty, peace, respect, and friendship (Chaverut). Skolnick adds, “Judaism teaches us to pursue peace in our daily lives and the lives of others. This is the most central inspiration of Hammock Village.”

Past Imagine That! Grant Recipients include:

• 2021 – Outdoor Adventure Center and Archery Range at Apachi Rogers Park
• 2020 – Outdoor Peace Room at Apachi Northside, Apachi Old Town and Apachi Hyde Park
• 2019 – Israeli Village at Camp Chi