We are excited to welcome Josh Satok to the JCamp 180 team as our new consultant! Read on to learn more about Josh and his connection to camp!
What brought you to JCamp 180?
I’ve always had a deep love for camp, and have spent most of my career working either directly for camps or with camps in some way. My favorite part of my previous role was getting to work directly with camps, supporting them through grantmaking and convening them to collectively solve problems, so I was very excited by the opportunity to join an incredible team at JCamp 180 where I can focus my energy exclusively on helping camps be the best that they can be.
What are you most excited about in your new role?
I’m most excited to both get to work with camps that I know well, and get to know a whole group of new camps. I’m really looking forward to working in partnership with camp staff and volunteer leadership to help ensure that there can be more meaningful experiences for more young people and to enhance and spread the magic of Jewish camp in any way I can.
What special camp-related organizational skills do you bring to JCamp 180 that camps might be excited to know about?
I’ve had the chance to work on the leadership team of a Young Judaea camp, a Ramah camp, and a URJ camp, so I bring a diversity of experience and an ability to deeply understand what makes different camps both similar and unique. I've also had the opportunity to think and work deeply on everything related to camp both as a camp professional and a camp funder- and even wrote my undergraduate thesis at Yale University about Jewish camps! I’m also a pretty decent golf cart driver.
Tell us your camp story and a favorite camp memory.
I didn’t start going to overnight camp until very late in the game - the summer after 9th grade. My siblings and I would spend most of the summer at my grandparents’ cottage and a couple weeks at a sports-focused day camp in Toronto. Even though most of my friends went to camp, we didn’t know why we would trade what we loved doing for going somewhere where they’d tell us what to do all the time.
Before the last summer that I could be a camper, I decided to try out this Jewish overnight camp thing - my brother and I went to Camp Kadimah in Nova Scotia (my sister came in later summers). I went back the next year as a CIT, and then back on staff for 6 summers as a general staff, sports staff, section head, and Program Director. I then spent one summer as the Program Director at Camp Ramah in Canada, and later worked year-round as the Senior Assistant Director at URJ Kutz Camp.
One of my favorite camp memories is what we called "Hockey Marathon" at Camp Kadimah - a day every summer where, leaning into every Canadian stereotype, we spent the entire day playing hockey.
Where do you live and what’s a fun/funny thing about you?
I live in New York City (in Manhattan). Something that people usually find funny is that my favorite New York City borough is actually Staten Island. I lived there right after college with one of my best friends who is from Staten Island, and I still believe that the Staten Island ferry is the most underrated free tourist attraction in NYC. Even most New Yorkers will say they've never been to Staten Island - unless they're Pete Davidson.
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Who we are: JCamp 180 is a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF). JCamp 180 invests in the long-term organizational effectiveness of nonprofit Jewish camps to ensure our community’s future and connection to Judaism. We partner with professional staff, lay leadership, movements, and allied organizations to inspire a culture that promotes philanthropic support by focusing on strategic planning, governance, and fundraising, and providing matching grants, consulting services, professional development, and research. Find more at www.jcamp180.org