We are so lucky here at camp to be able to live in such a beautiful environment for the summer. One of the ways to show our love and respect for our environment is to keep it clean, and as you can expect with a group of close to 700 people, that isn't always easy. Over the last few weeks we have been rolling out a new program, Alufei HaAshpah shel Machane Ramah (The Aces of Trash of Camp Ramah), in order to help everyone accept the responsibility of keeping our summer home clean, and have a little fun in the process.
The program is twofold–keep the cabins clean and keep the outdoors clean. Each cabin has a checklist of all the areas they need to work on and a team of senior staff rates every cabin every day. The cleanest cabin every day wins the coveted "Golden Dustpan" award for their section (Haluztim, Solelim and Shoafim are one section, while Bogrim, Machon and Tikvah are one section). The cleanest cabin at the end of the week wins a pizza or ice cream party.
For keeping the outdoors clean, everyone is expected to pick up and throw away any trash they see on the ground. A secret team of senior staff is always out watching for campers and staff who pick up trash. Anyone who is caught cleaning up gets his or her name put into the Alufei HaAshpah box and each week whoever has their name written down the most wins the highly prized Alufei HaAspah t-shirt.
The program is definitely having an impact on camp. The cabins are cleaner, outside is cleaner, and everyone loves to sing the cathy Alugei HaAshpah jingle, written by our own musical director in residence Hezi Mizrachi! Todah Rabbah to everyone who is working so hard to keep our camp clean!
Click here to listen to the jingle!
