Productive in the Pandemic: Camp Super Stars

By Yehudit Garmaise

     Not to be deterred by a pandemic, some holy Yidden have made amazingly productive use of their extra time in the last year. 

     For instance, last summer, Tzipora Friedlander, of Lakewood, NJ, could not stand the idea that her 16-year-old sister Bassy, who has Down Syndrome, would not have anything to do after 2:30pm, when she was done for the day with camp.

    “There was absolutely nothing going on,” remembered Ms. Friedlander, who is 21. “I thought, ‘How can I just leave my sister with nothing?’ I told my best friend, ‘We just must do something.’” 

    After considering their options, Ms. Friedlander and Sarah Rivky Weber, created Camp Super Stars, an exciting and fun overnight camp for nine high-functioning teenage girls with special needs. 

    The plan was to have the girls attend a day camp at the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI), where Ms. Friedlander works., and at 2:30pm when camp ended, Camp Super Stars would begin with fun activities, seven nights a week, and sleep in a rented dorm that had bunkbeds.

    Because of Camp Super Stars, nine girls with various disabilities had the exciting opportunity to be away from home for six complete weeks during a pandemic in which most camps were closed. 

   Creating something out of nothing, Ms. Friedlander was faced with her share of challenges, such as finding campers, counselors, a dorm, and fun, inexpensive nighttime activities.

   Word got around, slowly, but surely, and eventually nine campers signed up, but counselors, whom she could not pay, were not so easy to find.

   One night, after spending five hours making hundreds of phone calls and sending texts, Ms. Friedlander and Ms. Weber still did not have the staff they needed.

  “But, that night we knew had done everything we cold,” Ms. Friedlander remembered. “We reached our maximum efforts, and we thought, ‘Well, this must be it. Hashem is going to make it work out.”

   Ms. Friedlander’s trust that she would have siyata shemaya paid off because the next day, somehow, enough counselors had returned her calls.

  “Once we had a staff, things fell into place,” said Ms. Friedlander, who added that she wound up with an amazing group of counselors whom she still counts as good friends.

    Finding counselors was not Camp Super Star’s only setback, but their efforts and their bitachon prevailed.

    “Out of the blue, incredible opportunities would appear,” said Ms. Friedlander who remembered finding an unexpected sponsor who provided a trip to Diggerland in West Berlin, N.J. Other gifts from Hashem included access to a private water slide that stood in the front yard of Lakewood home and a pool that was owned by an SCHI teacher, who gladly hosted Camp Super Stars regularly.

   “All my campers go to SCHI, but they didn’t know each other before our camp,” reported Ms. Friedlander, who said her campers became a quite close and cohesive group.

   “It is the cutest thing to see my sister so connected with her fun, heaven group of friends,” said Ms. Weinberger.

    One day recently, Bassy came into her big sister’s room to show her something. 

    “Bassy was holding her swim cap and goggles, and she told me, ‘I am putting these away for Camp Superstars.’

      “I was so happy when I realized: She is already packing for this summer.”

   Readers who would like to work at or donate to Camp Super Stars can write Tzipora Friedlander at [email protected]

   Have you been especially productive in the pandemic? If you would like to share your story, please write [email protected]