About 300 children, ranging from infants to age 14, will attend the day camp starting June 27. The camp has about 100 staffers, about 90 percent of whom are returning from last year.
It was the worst of times in 2014 for the Kaiserman JCC’s Camp Kef, but the future is bright just two years later, with the camp winning a “Reader’s Choice” award as best day camp on the Main Line.
Back in 2014, attendance had dwindled, in part due to the uncertainly surrounding the JCC’s indoor pool, which closed in December 2013 because of roof damage. The walls and roof were eventually torn down, and the pool became for outdoor-only use.
In addition, the opening of the Havertown YMCA and a new Harlam Day Camp in Bryn Mawr siphoned away campers.
But Camp Kef has rebounded, according to director Marci Rubin.
“It’s because of what I call ‘the three P’s — the passion, the program and the people,” she said.
About 300 children, ranging from infants to age 14, will attend the day camp starting June 27. The camp has about 100 staffers, about 90 percent of whom are returning from last year.
Rubin said campers are returning because of good word of mouth, and plenty of newcomers are joining them, too.
“Marketing-wise we’ve spent half and gotten twice the results,” she said, noting that about a third of the campers are new this year.
She said that word of mouth also applied to the Reader’s Choice award from the Main Line Times, which she described as an “organic” win, since the camp didn’t ask its camper families or JCC members to vote for Camp Kef.
Rubin became camp director after the 2012 season. Making the camp competitive has been a main goal.
Aside from adding sports and arts components and developing the special needs inclusion program, the camp has built up a final week “Circus of the Kids.”
“I needed that ‘wow factor’ to get the kids back,” Rubin said.
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