Pele Adventures 2011

Another summer is around the corner and that means another exciting summer with PELE Adventures. In its third year running, PELE is planning some exciting new events and adventures. Last summer, the boys and their fearless leaders, Rabbi Avraham Benhamu, Avi Smus and Eddie Rahmey experienced the joys of the great outdoors with camping overnights in Lake Geroge and Ashoken Resevoir. They painted a new hen house for an animal sanctuary in Woodstock, NY and removed graffiti with the NYPD, not to mention manning phone banks to raise money for the Jewish National Fund.

If this doesn’t sound like an ordinary summer camp program that is because it isn’t! PELE is for boys ages 12-15 who want to experience a real adventure in New York and the Tri-State area for the summer. It’s a perfect program for those who don’t want to go to sleep away camp, yet are yearning for a more exhilarating program than the typical day camp. This year Pele is expanding and is including a counselor in training (CIT) program. In truth all of the boys of PELE are in training—for real life. They are included in the planning of events, budgeting, lunch preparation and they love it.

One highlight from summer 2010 was the bike-a-thon. The boys all helped to plan a route from headquarters on Avenue S and East 21st Street through downtown Brooklyn and up through Manhattan on the West Side Highway. They ended up biking all the way to the George Washington Bridge and back. It was a long trip but a journey with a lifetime of memories and a real measure of the boys’ perseverance and endurance. .

Along with zip lining, paintballing and white water rafting, Pele mixes typical trips and adds its own twists and turns. Many camps went on overnights last year, Pele boys slept in tents under the beautiful stars in Lake George and again in the Catskill Mountains. Of course, Pele takes the boys to all the theme parks, but the real amusement happens on hikes when the boys acquire survival skills from Avi Smus.

Just watching the boys work as a team to find their way on hikes or learning how to make a campfire with nothing but twigs, is truly a wonderful sight. All the while, praying Shaharit, Mincha and Arbit (on late nights). Shiurim every day and  Divre Torah at every meal, Pele Adventures offers a real world, fun, exciting well-rounded alternative to a regular day camp.

As one of our campers said, “I didn’t realize how much fun a camp could be.”

Let us show your son how much excitement can be had right here in our “backyard.” For more information please call Avi Smus at (718) 404-7709 or email smus007@aol.com.