Mercaz Renovation Update
Earlier this summer we talked about the Israeli Village, or Mercaz, Renovation Project that the SIT’s of 2022 were going to complete with a grant provided by Shalom Corps. The project was important as the Israeli Village is truly the center of camp. It’s where all of camp comes together to welcome in Shabbat, learn about Israel, and taste some homemade Israeli food at Israeli Cooking. It’s also a place anyone can come and hangout when they need a quiet space or a good book.
However, prior to this summer the Israeli Village was a little run down. But thanks to Shalom Corps and the SIT’s of 2022, the Mercaz is back and better than ever!
Over the course of a few weeks and many hours of hard work, the SIT’s completed a variety of amazing projects for the Israeli Village including:
- Laying down new gravel
- Expanding paths to make them accessible
- Power washing the old stones that make up our “Western Wall”
- Painting all three village structures
- Tearing out the old Shuk stands and creating bigger and better versions
- Adding a second defined entrance for a better flow during Shuk
- Enhancing the Negev section and adding in a life-sized camel named “Grant”
- Repainting the giant map of Israel
- Enhanced the Israeli cooking area
- Building new seating, including 16 wood benches
- Assembling new picnic tables
- Building a new Bedouin-style tent for indoor activities
- Adding string lights to the village so it can now be used as a nighttime activity space
- Installed a permanent outdoor sound system
- And so much more!
Because of all these improvements and all of the hard work that the SIT’s put into the Israeli Village, we were even able to have our first Israeli Village Shuk in three years! Everyone in camp was so excited to be there and couldn’t thank the SIT’s enough for bringing this special Camp Chi Tradition back to us!