Thinking about sending your child to GFC or to a Jewish summer camp?  Know someone who is on the fence about which camp to attend?  Direct them to this article by Joel Einlinger, program officer at the Avi Chai Foundation.  Joel writes about why Jewish camp is important.  Sending a child to a Jewish summer camp is the #1 predictor of Jewish commitment later on in life.  Read this article to learn more.

What a day at GFC!  It's SNOWING!  The snow has covered the ground, and it's still coming down.  There haven't been many times in GFC history that it's snowed like this.  It's a treat today!  The office is officially closed, but there are still photos for you.  Check out some of your favorite places around camp all covered in SNOW below!

 Earlier this week, from January 11-13, Loui and Ana headed to the great city of New Orleans for a rabbinic convention - the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis meeting.  Each year, the group meets in a different city in the region.  Another tradition of the conference is that each year GFC hosts a luncheon to talk about what's happening at camp and thank the hard work of so many of the rabbis in our region.

You may not know this, but the rabbis in Texas and Oklahoma do a great service for GFC.  Most obviously, so many of the rabbis, cantors, educators, and youth directors in this region come to spend a week at camp each summer.  While these faculty are at camp, they teach campers and staff, get to know campers, and generally have fun hanging around and making a huge difference at camp - in the pool, on the basketball court, at meals, and of course, telling bedtime stories.  During the year, so many of our clergy members are also hard at work for the camp.  Many of them work on our Jewish educational programs, and some even attend faculty planning retreats that we have during the year.  Many of them work hard to answer questions about GFC to new and sometimes nervous parents.  Many of them give generously to enable every Jewish child who wants to attend GFC to have that opportunity.  Truly, the camp would not be what it is without their dedication and work.

It was a lot of fun to have the conference in New Orleans.  The group stayed in the French Quarter and enjoyed coffee and beignets from Cafe Du Monde, wonderful meals, and great opporutnities for learning and getting to know one another.  They even celebrated Rabbi Debra Robbins of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas' birthday at a jazz club!

A huge todah rabbah (thank you) to the GFC faculty!  Thank you for doing so much to make the camp what it is!

On Sunday, December 13, Cantors Richard Cohn, Roslyn Barak, and Mo Glazman performed at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas.  The concert raised money for camperships to URJ summer camps.  The American Association of Cantors (ACC), the Reform cantorial association, has organized many such concerts around the country this year to benefit the URJ camps.  The concert was beautiful, with music in Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish, and lots of showtunes.  Everyone joined together in the Chanukah blessings, and Loui, Ana, Micah Diamond, Josh Goldberg, and Rabbi Adam Allenberg all joined the cantors on the bima to sing "Not By Might" by Debbie Friedman.   The Temple Emanu-El Zamarim, the youth choir, also perfomed, and it was exciting to see many GFC campers and future campers involved!  Happy Chanukah to all!