BB Camp installs even dozen on new board

By JEWISH REVIEW

article created on: 2010-02-02T00:00:00

Entering a new self-run era, B’nai B’rith Camp inaugurated its 2010 board of directors, 12 unique individuals each with one key attribute in common: long-term histories with and involvement in BB Camp.

Founded in 1921, BB Camp is located on a lakeside campus on the scenic Oregon coast. Last year the B’nai B’rith Men’s Camp Association purchased BB Camp from the Mittleman Jewish Community Center.

Melissa Bernstein has spent 12 summers at BB Camp, eight as a camper and four as a staff member. She also has the distinction of being the Camp’s first executive fellow, The Executive Fellowship strives to affect change on a camp-wide, systemic level by training and fostering leadership growth and by participation in one-on-one coaching with the executive director. A junior studying economics and business at Cornell College in Iowa, Bernstein most recently served on the Camp Strategic Planning Committee and, two years ago, completed the Foundation for Jewish Camp Cornerstone Fellowship program.

Amy Blauer is perhaps a camp poster child: A long-time camper herself, she met her husband, Doug Blauer, at BB and co-founded Rejewvenation, the women’s retreat on the Devil’s Lake property that’s now in its sixth year and has attracted roughly 350 women of all ages and with diverse interests to the weekend get-away. The Blauer children, already BB loyalists, tag along with their parents to BB Camp’s Family Camp.

Rusty Federman is the board president of the Stroum Jewish Community Center in the Seattle area. He is a devoted Men’s Camper. His wife, too, adores camp, as a loyal Rejewvenation attendee. And the couple’s daughters spend summers at BB Camp.

Katie Gold is very involved in her kids’ education, volunteering in various capacities for Lincoln High School, and some of her time also goes toward Schoolhouse Supplies, the non-profit she founded in 1999. Drawing equally on her time and energy is BB Camp; Gold recently served, along with Bernstein, on the BB Camp Strategic Planning Committee, chairing the Mission Statement subcommittee. Gold’s husband is a Men’s Camp attendee, and the couple’s two teenage children have attended since second grade; the Gold’s eldest now is a Camp counselor. And she, too, gets to be a camper, as she’s become a Rejewvenation enthusiast.

Mark Goodman, vice president of City Center Parking, partner in his family’s real estate holdings, patron of the arts and member of various boards in the business world, also is deeply involved in Portland’s Jewish community. Once a board member of Cedar Sinai Park, Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Portland Jewish Academy and the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, Goodman, a native Portlander and University of Oregon graduate, now is active on BB Camp’s decision-making body.

Stuart Kronick has been a Men’s Camper, and his daughter, too, was a youth BB camper. Kronick also has given years of service to the MJCC, including as its Camp and Camping Services Director for all MJCC camps, and he served on the Center’s board of directors, including one year as board president. Not only is Kronick new to BB Camp’s board of directors but he’s also on the allocations committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.

Dr. Bob Mendelson, a pediatrician, for years served as BB Camp’s medical director. Mendelson, along with Dr. David Spiro have since last summer co-lead camp’s physician team and ensure all campers’ medical needs are met. Doctoring aside, Mendelson also is a BB Camp loyalist, first trying out overnight camp in 1941, eventually becoming MJCC’s Day Camp program director. The BB Camp tradition runs long in his family; each of his four children were BB Camp regulars.

Miles Newmark’s mother, siblings and many cousins attended BB Camp, as did Miles himself, beginning as a camper and eventually becoming a counselor. He recently served on BB Camp’s Strategic Planning Committee. Now a BB Camp board member, Newmark is involved in the local Jewish community through other organizations, too, including as Congregation Beth Israel’s treasurer and, previously, as board member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and its Community Relations Committee.

Irv Potter, who followed in his father’s footsteps as a loyal BB Camp camper, is himself a well-known entity around BB Camp. Board chairman of B’nai B’rith Men’s Camp Association, Potter has been a Men’s Camper for more than three decades. Potter is past president of both the MJCC and Congregation Neveh Shalom and currently serves on the Portland Jewish Academy board. Most recently, Potter was chair of BB Camp’s Strategic Planning Committee.

Felicia Rosenthal, a human resources professional and entrepreneur, has been involved in the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, including its Young Women’s Division, Impact and Super Sunday. She also brings to the BB Camp board a penchant for fund raising, having done so on a volunteer basis for Federation and Congregation Neveh Shalom. Rosenthal came late to BB camping, getting her start at Rejewvenation, a commitment she plans to stick with for the duration. Her husband is a Men’s Camper and her children, now teenagers, were BB campers since elementary school.

Kyle Rottenberg, who has a long history as a BB camper and Men’s Camp counselor, now is president of B’nai B’rith Men’s Camp Association and has, since 1970, spent every summer at Men’s Camp. He most recently played a role on the BB Camp Strategic Planning Committee.

And Robert Sacks, a Portland native currently living in Ashland with his wife and young son, recently became a Men’s Camp attendee, coming full circle since his first BB Camp experience in 1977. Sacks has political, as well as public relations experience and now works in automotive retail. Sacks’ family recently attended Family Camp; the trio is hooked.