BIRCH TALES SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 A NEWSLETTER FOR BIRCH TRAIL FRIENDS AND FAMILY GREETINGS FROM MILWAUKEE Happy Fall and early Winter!!!!!!! We hope that everyone is enjoying being back in school. We are all gearing up for the start of our reunions and are looking forward to seeing so many of you in Chicago on October 31st. After camp ended, we enjoyed a wonderful session of Camp BT – our camp for kids with Autism, followed by a nostalgic and fun-filled weekend of alumni helping us celebrate our 50 th Anniversary as a camp. It was so much fun reconnecting with everyone and hearing memories from the very first summers of Birch Trail’s history. The alumni were so happy to step foot on Birch Trail soil again, reconnect with the beautiful nature surrounding camp, and relive memories with their camp friends. We are working on a new website for alumni and will let you know when that is up and running. Barbara stayed up at camp for the whole month of September to enjoy the warm weather and get a lot of projects done. A big HOW to Mickey and Gary Henson for coming back up after Camp BT to help Barbara paint the beach house, the craft shop and the canteen building. Russ put new siding on Cabins 14 and 15 and is fixing the floor in the Maple washhouse. The entire shower part of the washhouse will be brand new next summer. He is also working on an addition to the office so that the program director can move out of Pokegama Inn and join the rest of the admin staff in the office. Gabe, Erin and Brooklyn went back up to camp in early October to finish some work and enjoy the fall colors. LBD traveled to England to see camp friends and had a wonderful time. She visited with Lisa Bradshaw (a former BT counselor) and SiWan. Camp looks very different now. The trees have changed colors and are dropping their leaves, the Eagles and Deer have reclaimed camp as their own again, and Russ has put everything away for the winter. All of us are hoping that the winter flies by so we can once again start setting camp up for all of you to be back there next summer. The camp office is busy setting up reunions, starting to hire staff for next summer, and contacting campers who are interested in attending next summer. If you know of any friends, relatives or neighbors who would be great additions to our Birch Trail Family, please let us know about them. We are also working on new programs and projects for next summer so keep us posted if you have any great ideas for those as well. We love to hear from you throughout the winter with news of camp friends and camp gettogethers. Please keep us posted of any news. BIRCH TRAIL 2009 REUNION SCHEDULE Chicago Reunion - Saturday, October 31st, 1:07 PM, Glencoe Community Center LA Reunion - Sunday, Nov. 8th, 12:57 pm, Jenny Kate Pritzker’s house Dallas Reunion - Friday, Nov. 13th, 7:03 pm, Zoe Blumenthal’s house Houston Reunion - Sunday, Nov. 15th, 2:57 pm, Elle Wermuth’s House Detroit Reunion - Sunday, Nov. 22nd, 2:03 pm, Erica & Rachel Broder’s house Cincinnati Reunion - Sunday, Dec. 6th, 2:07 pm, Katarina Warnick’s house Florida Reunion - Saturday, Dec. 12th, 2:04 pm, Phoebe & Victoria Rosen’s house Atlanta Reunion - Sunday, Dec. 13th, 1:07 pm, Gabrielle Lewis’ house St. Louis, Tulsa, San Francisco, Tucson, Phoenix, Colorado, Milwaukee, Kansas City reunion times, dates and locations coming soon....Let us know if you are interested in hosting a reunion in your city! Tam Project A big hey-o how to camp Birch Trail for participating in the Tamarack’s toy and pop-can tab collection this summer! From all the donations that were made, we donated 13 boxes of stuffed animals to children, and donated $347.93 from the money collected from the pop tabs. Way to go! Carly Pass was recognized by the Friends of Kids with Cancer foundation in St. Louis as a result of her efforts to knit more than two dozen hats as gifts to kids with cancer. She said she was inspired to do so after learning how to knit at camp. Here’s a big How to Carly!!! Summer Memories Pop raids ~ Sunday services ~ Pandemonium ~ Jewel of the Brule Dodgeball ~ Games on the airstrip ~ Tubing ~ Ice cream at The Scoop Superlatives ~ TIAD ~ LJ Booth ~ Water skiing ~ Canoeing on the Nam Reaching the top of the climbing wall ~ Dance parties ~ Wannegan Reading and writing letters at the white chairs ~ Cabin Days Maple SYRUP Ducks & chicks in The Hatchery ~ Sea Kayaking ~ Sailing on Lake Pokegama Sister service ~ A to Z Dance Parties ~ Hiking on Isle Royale ~ Trip food Watching sunsets with friends ~ “It’s as Real as it Gets” ~ Cheering in the lodge ~ Voyageurs Council fires with Max, playing his guitar ~ Camp dogs Canoeing in the Boundary Waters ~ Tamaracks in Hayward ~ The craft shop ~ Laughing with friends ~ Explorers solo ~ 5 Year Camper Day Sardines ~ Tam Project ~ Making friends that last a lifetime! Staff News Emma Pucker was recently at a Minnesota Vikings game, and caught an out-of-bounds pass thrown by Brett Favre. She got to meet him after the game and got season tickets for box seats. Anyone who wants tickets should call Emma! An outstanding theatre performance by JJ Simms in Portland, Oregon, was witnessed by Tom Cruise, who was so impressed that he cast her in his upcoming film, War of the Worlds II. Hannah Cummins is currently training for the next America’s Cup. She will be skippering for the Scottish team! Phil Waidner is working and leading trips in Hong Kong. When he first arrived, he had dinner with Cabe, Jessie, and John Knight! The next season of Iron Chef will be featuring our very own Jackie Reiner. Keep your eye out for Food Network’s Iron Chef: London to be airing in January! Former campers and staff member, and bunkmates Layne Kaplan and Becca Saag have been reunited in the same dorm during their freshman year at USC. Meghan Haines, Aby Underhill, and Bel Dickson enjoyed touring the United States after camp, and had their share of adventures. They saved a stranded hiker on the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and appeared as extras in Adam Sandler’s next film while they were in Hollywood. By the time they reached Florida, they ran out of money so they became members of the NASCAR pit crew, and helped Jeff Gordon reach victory in the Daytona 500. Finally, they went deep-sea fishing in Florida and caught the world’s biggest marlin. Si-Wan Cheung is back to coaching gymnastics in London, and started coaching Chris Martin and Gwenyth Paltrow’s daughter. She is now their own private baby -sitter and gymnastics coach. Happy Birthday, Birch Trail Babies! September 2 Maddie Dolins 2 Vanessa Ross 3 Olivia Pinsof 4 Gabi Dinkin 4 Carly Rosenthal 5 Alyssa Cohen 5 Lauren Lee 6 Claire Mulert 8 Chelsea Mohr 11 Jodi Backalar 15 Jenny-Kate Pritzker 16 Ariel Goldfine 16 Hannah Guttman 16 Leah Reed 16 Nicole Schlesinger 17 Rachel Abreu 17 Dani Kaufman 17 Paige Keiner 18 Elise Werner 19 Dahlia Callistein 19 Jocelyn Dee October 19 Annie Feldman 20 Elena Zifkin 21 Sydney Metzner 22 Jane Sussman 25 Kiki Koretz 25 Julia van Zwieten 27 Sally Hicks 29 Isabella Silberg 30 Sammy Cohen 30 Essence Price 3 Olivia Silverman 5 Caroline Wineman 7 Jordan Solomon 10 Anna Braverman 10 Lindsey Bronston 10 Madison Powell 11 Marlee Learner 13 Jessica Leshman 15 Gabrielle Lewis 16 Aliza Kipnis 17 Leslie Dinkin 17 Robin Dinkin 17 Katie Frank 17 Paige Rudd 21 Sammy Agin 24 Daily Desenberg 24 Hope Desenberg 25 Meredith Cohen 29 Ellie Stein 31 Naomi Rawitz SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 BIRCH TALES BIRCH TRAIL CAMP 10523 N. Pine Tree Circle Mequon, WI 53092