Camp kids blend fun, good deeds

Youths head out on weekly missions through the Golda Meir/Kent Jewish Center camp.

[Times photo: Fred Victorin] Samara Rutenberg, 11, right, and other volunteers sort through pamphlets about Holocaust survivors during their group outing Monday at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg.

By LORRI HELFAND

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 1, 2000

Kids just want to have fun. But they're not too young to get a charge out of lending a hand.

With their weekly "mitzah missions," which means good-deed ventures, middle schoolers at Golda Meir/Kent Jewish Center camp in Clearwater have learned it feels good to help others.

In camp, they're swimming at the beach, playing soccer and taking trips to Orlando -- much like kids at many summer camps. But they're also entertaining residents at a nursing home, dusting shelves at the Dunedin Library and mopping floors and scrubbing toilets at the Ronald McDonald House.

On Monday they chipped in at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, weeding and sweeping the parking lot and organizing pamphlets inscribed with the experiences of Holocaust survivors.

Senior camp counselor Andrew Goldstein said it's natural for kids this age to be self-involved. Efforts like Monday's trip are important, he said, because they're "all 100 percent for somebody else."

Goldie Shear, volunteer coordinator, said the trip was important because it "sort of sobers them up and helps them to understand that life is not all video games and the Internet."

Lara Massarsky, 10, agreed.

"I feel good about myself" after completing the mitzvah missions, she said. "I feel happy that I've helped somebody out and made someone else's life easier."

Her mother, assistant camp director Jorie Massarsky, said the trips teach children the importance of helping others.

"A lot of these children are born into fortunate circumstances," she said. "They learn to help out those less fortunate."

The campers checked in at 10:30 and headed up to Education Gallery on the third floor for orientation where Diane Tindell, public relations director, explained the Holocaust in terms they could understand.

"Why do we have a Holocaust museum?" Tindell asked.

"To get people thinking about how people are and how we can be better," said Jessie Ostrow, 11.

Next, Tindell told campers that bystanders are "people who may have seen something and didn't do anything." With this explanation, she taught about those who stood by during the Holocaust.

She also discussed the importance of respect and responsibility and emphasized the importance of respecting those who are different.

Tindell finished her lecture by asking the students whether they knew the significance of the 11 flames in the sculpture outside the building. Those stood for the 11-million people who perished during the Holocaust.

Ultimately, Tindell said, she wants kids to learn tolerance acceptance and sharing.

"You're not sure what they're soaking in, but they all seem to respond to the lessons," she said.

Next, the kids made a beeline for their stations. Most of the campers went to a small theater downstairs to sort pamphlets. Four of the boys headed outside to clean up the parking lot.

In the theater the campers set up a makeshift assembly line to sort and package pamphlets that teach about Holocaust survivors. Small groups made piles of pamphlets, while one volunteer grabbed a pile from each group and junior counselor Adrienne Frey banded the packets together.

Frey said she was surprised at how organized the kids are when they take on volunteer projects. "When we play a game at camp, they never get this organized," she said.

The work seemed monotonous, but none of the campers seemed to mind.

Goldstein said he wants them to know that "what may make you a little uncomfortable is really helpful to others."

"It's not really hard," said Samara Rutenberg, 11. "I know I'm doing it for a reason."

Tiffanie Cavagno, 12, said her favorite project so far was heavy-duty cleaning at the Ronald McDonald House, because she was easing the burden on kids who were sick. "I wanted to help them," she said. "I didn't mind at all."

Outside, two students got on their knees and pulled up weeds from the median bordering the lot and the other two grabbed a broom and dust bin and swept up trash and leaves.

They seemed to understand the importance of their mission. Kevin Keen, 11, said it was important to clean up outside so people will want to visit the museum.

After more than an hour of hard work, docent Judy Bayles pulled the campers from their tasks and gave them a short tour of the museum.

Bayles explained that 6-million Jews and 5-million others, including gypsies, homosexuals, mentally and physically disabled people and Jehovah's Witnesses, were murdered in the Holocaust.

Goldstein told the students to notice how the treatment of the Jews early in the Holocaust resembled the treatment of African-Americans at that time.

As lunchtime approached, some kids appeared to lose interest. But they were riveted by a exhibit of a small child's ring found in one of the box cars.

"What happened to her?" and "Did she survive?" a couple of the girls asked.

"We don't know," Bayles replied.

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