Important Instructions for Closing Day (July 25)

Shalom Camp Ramah New England First Session Families,

Everything is going well at camp and your children are having a great time!

In this email are instructions for the procedures that will be in place for campers who are being picked up by car on Closing Day, July 25. (If your camper is flying home, Marggi will email you additional instructions next week.)

Instructions for Closing Day of First Session (July 25):

We want to implement safe procedures for Closing Day, just as we did on Opening Day. Parents will be directed to park alongside the A-side road and must remain near their cars. Our staff will bring campers to their parents’ cars; parents will not be able to walk up to the camper bunks.

The window for picking up campers by car is 10am to 12pm. Families who are picking up their campers by car will need to sign up for a pick-up time slot using an online portal that will open on Tuesday, July 13, 7pm. Here is the link to the portal. We will be limiting the number of cars per time slot so that we can safely and efficiently reunite all campers with their families. Time slots will be available on a “first come first served” basis.

Here is an outline of the process:

• Pick-up time slots will be 10:00, 10:30, 11:00 and 11:30.
• You may not arrive at the camp gate for drop-off more than five minutes prior to your time slot. We realize that people driving to camp may not be able to precisely schedule their arrival to Palmer. Please take traffic into account when making your plans.
• If you arrive in Palmer early, please park and wait at the Big Y parking lot. You will be sent away if you arrive at camp early because we cannot block the road entering camp.
• You recently received an email from Marggi with your specific luggage assignment and the times are attached once again to this email. Based on your assignment, when the portal opens, please choose your time slot as follows:
  • For Northampton luggage location: choose 10:00
  • For Worcester luggage location: choose 10:30 or earlier
  • For West Hartford luggage location: choose 10:30 or earlier
  • For New Haven luggage location: choose 11:00 or earlier
  • For all other locations: choose any pick-up time slot
• To enable our staff to check off our parents as they arrive at the front gate and make it easier for our staff to bring campers to their parents’ cars, please come with the name of your camper written clearly in bold marker on a full sheet of paper. 
• Once we have brought all campers to their family cars during each slot, we will facilitate your departure from camp and we will then welcome the next shift.

Any questions? Call Marggi at 413.283.9771.

Kol tuv,

Rabbi Ed Gelb (He/His/Him)
CEO, Ramah New England