It’s shortly after 11 a.m. at Southampton Summer Day Camp in Bucks County. Monday. The second week of camp.
Lindsay Blum Schlesinger is walking around the grass fields, identifying a bee’s nest on a boys’ cabin, picking up paper cups, talking to the horse instructors about how many girls got to ride and how well they behaved. En route, she says hi to campers, talks to counselors about how their days are going and discusses plans with supervisors.
She’s smiling.
That’s because Blum Schlesinger, 39, is in her happy place. The one she grew up at as a camper and counselor. The oasis, surrounded by trees, that her parents, Rick and Jacque Blum, opened in 1973 on open farmland.
Rick Blum, who is Jewish, was a teacher at the time he purchased the land, according to his daughter. He had some help from his own father. Now, his daughter is taking on the 50-year legacy that he started. Post COVID, Southampton is at capacity with about 400 campers, many of whom are Jewish.
“Camp is the best. It taught me confidence. There’s nothing like it,” Blum Schlesinger said.
“Honestly, it feels like I’m living the dream,” she added later in an email.
It was not always a foregone conclusion that the daughter would inherit her parents’ legacy. It was not even a sure thing that the camp would stay in the family. Blum Schlesinger’s two brothers have their own careers. She did too for the first decade and a half of her adult life. The 39-year-old worked in marketing in Los Angeles and New York. By her 30s, she had risen to the executive level.
But for years, Blum Schlesinger would always mention to her parents that she would take over Southampton one day.
“I felt like there would be a time and place where it felt right,” she said.
In January 2020, Blum Schlesinger and her husband, Michael Schlesinger, suffered through a 39-week pregnancy loss. And then COVID hit.
“It was a lot of soul searching, a lot of reflecting, a lot of close-knit family (time),” Blum Schlesinger said.
The pandemic was also an opportunity “not to go anywhere, not to see anyone,” she added.
By April, the marketing executive tried to go back to work, and she found the distraction she needed. The All In Challenge that her company, VaynerMedia, was participating in. It consisted of celebrities, sports teams and other organizations helping to raise money to fight food insecurity during the pandemic.
Blum Schlesinger helped VaynerMedia raise around $60 million.
“I threw myself into this project,” she said. “I came out of that and felt like, OK, if I can get through the past couple months, there’s nothing I can’t handle.
“Coming out of that intense emotional state made me feel free to make any decision,” she continued. “What am I scared of? This is the time.”
About a year later, Southampton was reopening after its 2020 closure. Blum Schlesinger’s son, Ziggy, was about to turn 3. She decided it was time for him to go to camp, so the family moved to Bucks County for the summer.
Blum Schlesinger, who was still working remotely at Vayner, would swing by camp to see Ziggy’s “smile that lights up,” she recalled.
“That was it for me,” she said.
The next summer, she took over as director.
The Blums still have the announcement on the Southampton website: “We are thrilled to announce that our daughter, Lindsay Blum Schlesinger, will be officially joining the management team this summer to continue this tradition for many years into the future.”
The parents are still here. On Monday, Jacque Blum walks around with two dogs and stops so campers can pet them. Around noon, Rick Blum and another staff member come out to crush that bee’s nest that Blum Schlesinger had spotted.
But in 2023, it is Blum Schlesinger’s responsibility to make sure the day runs smoothly. She checks in at the office about the weather. She goes back out and watches the kids race from one activity to another. As she steps off the office steps and starts walking around again, she asks each kid if he or she is having fun. The answer is usually yes.
“I think Lindsay knows the Southampton way,” said Marc Rosenberg, a supervisor in his 31st year at camp. “And she’s very enthusiastic about promoting the Southampton way, which is family, fun, friendships.”
Rosenberg is one of many head staff members who has been at Southampton for more than a decade. They are happy that the camp is staying in the family.
“It’s knowing that nothing is going to change,” said David Apfelbaum, a 20th-year staff member and the current program director. “It’s the same heart that’s there.”
