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March 16, 2001/Adar 21, 5761, Vol. 53, No.24
Man turns childhood dream into reality
BETH OLSON
Editorial Assistant
As a young boy, Steve Kanefsky loved spending summers at Camp Menominee. The camp, located on 65 acres in rural Eagle River, Wis., offered a myriad of outdoor activities and sports opportunities to a boy who spent the rest of the year in Chicago. He enjoyed the camp so much that from ages 10-24 he was first a camper, then a counselor and eventually camp director.
In 1997, at age 28, Kanefsky realized a dream he'd had since he was 15 - he purchased Camp Menominee.
During the winter, Kanefsky runs his camp business long distance from Scottsdale, but each May he returns to the North Woods to share with boys from all over the country the experiences that shaped his own life.
Menominee is a camp for boys ages 7-15 that offers land sports including baseball, golf, tennis, soccer and football; water sports, such as swimming, fishing, water-skiing, sailing and windsurfing, as well as traditional camp activities like arts and crafts, archery and overnights. There are two four-week sessions each summer, and Kanefsky says that about half of the boys stay for the entire summer.
Although Menominee is not a Jewish camp, Kanefsky says that more than 90 percent of the children who attend are Jewish. The camp therefore offers an optional Friday night service, which is led by Israeli counselors he hires for the summer.
Additionally, Kanefsky says that, although Menominee is not an academic camp, the Israeli counselors help boys who are preparing to become bar mitzvah study Hebrew and their Haftorah portions.
"We're not an educational type of camp, but we'll do whatever it takes to put a boy in a position where he'll be successful and his parents will let him come to camp," he says.
Kanefsky is proud that his ability to meet families' needs results in the frequent return of campers.
"We have about an 85-percent retention rate. Most of our kids come for four or five summers at a time. A lot of them will come on staff for us, as well, like I did," he explains.
These former campers help make up the staff of 60 people - to 180 campers - whom Kanefsky hires to staff the camp each summer - including a chef who has been at the camp for 35 years. Kanefsky puts it bluntly, "Our food is awesome."
Because the boys, from all over the country, spend the whole summer at camp and frequently come back year after year, Kanefsky sends out a yearbook in the fall to all campers. The yearbook contains contact information so the participants can stay in touch during the school year.
"We have staff members from all around the country, Israel (and) all over the world. It's really cool to see the kids and the counselors all networking with each other," he says.
Kanefsky says that working as owner and director of Camp Menominee is a full-time job for him and that his educational background in business - he has a bachelor's degree in finance and an MBA - has been much more helpful to him than the recreation degree that many camp directors have.
During the four months of the year that Kanefsky is not at camp, he lives in Scottsdale, where he moved about 10 years ago. He followed his parents, Shari and Irwin Kanefsky, who moved here in 1986. He's a member of Har Zion Congregation and enjoys participating in local Jewish singles events.
For more information about Camp Menominee, contact Steve Kanefsky at 480-515-5474.
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