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Here’s a message from our Camp Shoreshim Director, Aubrey O’Leary: “Each morning and afternoon, our counselors bring everyone together with songs, games, and camp traditions that I hope our campers will remember for years to come.
Wednesday brought our Bike Rodeo, and Thursday was our epic Games Day, complete with relay races, Fill the Bucket, a water-gun fight, Grandma’s Keys, and more. Our campers were excited to perform their play for their families today. After the performance, we gathered for a family Camp Shabbat with Rabbi Micah Hyman before bringing another wonderful week of camp to a close. A special thank-you to our wonderful counselors Rachel Getten, Sean Oksner and Delvina Traga for bringing so much creativity, enthusiasm, and care to camp each day. This experience would not have been possible without them.” Thank You to Our Supporters!
LISA MARMON • AN ANONYMOUS SPONSOR • LORRAINE BREWSTER • SUSAN M. ARONER • KARIN TRABER & JENNIFER ALM • ROBYN FRIEDMAN-O’LEARY • ANDI & JEFF PORTNEY • ROBIN FOX AVEDESIAN IN MEMORY OF HER SON, RUSSELL FOX, WHO LOVED CAMP AS A CHILD.
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 Before we could even ask for help after the fire, our phones buzzed with a text from Joshua Pinsky, president of AEPi's Sigma Omega chapter at Cal Poly. “We are always willing to help.” Just hours earlier, a wildfire had swept across the back fields of our 10-acre property on Laureate Lane. Thanks to the swift response from CAL FIRE, no one was hurt, and the synagogue, clay tennis courts, olive orchard, and One Cool Earth's Play Grove were spared. Unfortunately a stable for animals was damaged, acres of pasture were burned, and with Camp Shoreshim beginning July 20, there is important work to do before campers arrive.
Then he learned something that made the connection even more meaningful. Alumni advisor Michael David, a founding member of Sigma Omega, told Joshua that decades ago, AEPi brothers helped build the JCC's clay tennis court—the very court the fire came within feet of reaching. That story says something profound about this place. Long before today's students arrived, earlier generations invested their hands, their resources, and their hearts to create a Jewish home that would outlast them. Today, that same property hosts children at Camp Shoreshim, welcomes college students, brings neighbors together on the tennis courts, and gives our community a place to gather, celebrate, grieve, and grow. It is not simply land owned by the JCC—it is a living legacy entrusted to all of us. What touched Joshua most was learning that Camp Shoreshim could be affected. A "camp kid" himself growing up, he remembers those weeks as "some of the best memories of my life." He wants Jewish children here in San Luis Obispo County to build those same lifelong memories, on the same sacred ground that has nurtured generations before them. Brothers who are in town this summer will be joining us for our Community Workday on July 19, the day before Camp begins.
If you'd like to stand with them, there are many ways to help: volunteer at the workday, contribute to the GoFundMe, become a JCC Supporter, or simply help share the story. Every hour volunteered and every dollar given is an investment in the future of this place—and in the generations who will one day call it their Jewish home. To the brothers of Sigma Omega: thank you. Your generosity arrived before we even knew how to ask for it, and in doing so, you reminded us that this land belongs not just to an organization, but to an entire Jewish community. |
JCC-Federation StatementsSelected content from the JCC-Federation of SLO. Archives
July 2026
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