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| Kawaga Alumni Association | | ||
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| Kawaga Alumni Association | | ||
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The first reunion in April of 1996 brought over 300 Kawagians to the Westin-
O'Hare in Chicago. Former campers and counselors from almost every state
in the Union and even one from Europe attended the event. The following is
the speech given on that night by the co-founder and the first chairman of the
Kawaga Alumni Association, Mark Loewenstein. How did we
get so old so fast? Thank you, Richard…I want to take this opportunity on
behalf of the Kawaga Alumni Association to thank all of you for joining us this
evening. We have a really special
evening planned and hope that all of you have an opportunity to spend time with
you old camp buddies and, if your wives are here, show them what the Camp Kawaga
experience was all about. Before I go
any further though, I want you to know that over the past year I have spoken
with a great many of you…each telling me of your personal memories of camp.
Some of you have even told me that you regularly have dreams of camp.
But…there seems to be a few stories that are the same.
So, with a show of hands, how many of you have either walked the trestle
or snuck to Agawak at night? Also, over
the past year, a great many of you asked how our association began.
About a year ago I was driving to work on the expressway and saw out of
the corner of my eye that it was Rich Korengold.
I waved to him, but it took him a second to realize that it was me. While driving, he told me his cellular phone number and I
called him. After the small talk,
we thought it would be fun to gather a modest sized group together for some sort
of reunion. So, we recruited Eddie
Adler and Dave Zazove and set up a meeting downtown.
Can you believe I actually forgot about the first meeting?
At the second meeting we kind of set our sights on finding guys that went
to camp from 1965 through 1980, as those were our years.
We figured we could gather up 75 or so alumni and rent a party room at a
condo and make it a “BYOB” thing. Well,
needless to say it didn’t turn out that way. The day
after I got my list from the past Pineneedles, I went out and bought a CD-ROM of
the White Pages of the entire United States and went to town.
Our list went from 75 to over 150 in a day.
Then I started calling people. The
tables turned though when someone suggested I call Bob Sideman, a guy from the
late fifties and early sixties. Then
Bob suggested I call Tom Lewy, a guy from the forties and fifties. Soon thereafter, with their help, the list grew to well over
500. We found people all the way
back from the teens, including some of the campers from the first year of camp. Speaking of
help, there are a number of people that deserve recognition, for without their
heroic efforts, none of this would have been possible.
Dave Zazove, for helping formulate a plan that went from having a small
gathering in a party room to a large scale reunion weekend.
Eddie “The Woodman” Adler, for helping organize our association and
keeping our meetings lively. In
fact, the first few meetings were quite unproductive, as we laughed, joked, and
told many stories of our own unique experiences at camp. This next
person sorted out and kept track of all the old photos and letters we’ve
accumulated and is our official Archivist…Bob Sideman.
Additionally, Bob handled much of the detail things that needed taking
care of to pull this event off. Our
publication, the Kawaga Spirit, was a classy publication that required many
man-hours to put together…our editor, Tom Lewy.
I am sure we all recognize the great effort Tom put in to the Spirit.
And as the elder spokesman of our board, Tom’s wisdom and guidance were
appreciated by all. And
speaking of the Kawaga Spirit, the guy who deserves a great deal of credit for offering us his
valuable time at no charge is Jon Meitus and his company, IntrepidDesign.
Unfortunately, Jon is out of town this evening and was unable to attend.
But it was his art direction and layout that was the catalyst in making
the Kawaga Spirit as sharp as it was. Look
for more editions in the future. In
order to keep over 800 names in an orderly fashion, it required a quite complex
database. For all my late-night
calls and stupid computer questions, none of it could have been done without
Craig Sommerfield. And in my eyes,
Craig went from being a camper in my group, to a great friend with whom I can
rely on to help with all aspects of our association.
For
helping keep our association on the same track as Camp’s and for lending moral
support as well as providing the great gift we’ll get later tonight, I would
like to thank
Camp’s current owners, the Brothers Fisher: Bob, Mike, Duke, and, Marc for all
of their support. It
is also important that we recognize some other “behind-the-scenes” people.
I would like to thank Lois Mecklenburger, Lou Ehrenreich’s daughter,
for all of her input and sharing her memorabilia that is out on display tonight. I
would also like to thank Lou’s sister, Rosemary Krensky, who was unable to
attend tonight, for her financial support as well as providing numerous photos
and articles about the early days of camp.
Her quick wit and attention to detail is an inspiration for all of us. And
then there’s the guy who was the brains of putting this wonderful evening
together and co-founded this association idea that developed into a large scale
happening – my partner in crime, Richard “Murray” Korengold. But
there is really one person that without her help – for sure none of this could
have happened. It is only because
of the understanding and patience that we managed to get 800 people on our list.
For understanding why I spent so much time on my computer every night and
getting phone calls at all hours of the night, I want to thank my loving wife,
Karen. For without her unending
support of our Alumni Association, we would not be here tonight. With
our Alumni Association growing on an almost daily basis, we must think ahead to
where we want to go. While we hope
to keep a strong association with camp, we need to maintain our own identity as
a place for former campers and staff to keep their camp memories alive by
staying in touch with their old friends. And
while we have created a strong foundation for the future, we must plan
accordingly. Tonight is not the
end. It is just the beginning.
Here is what we have planned for the next two years:
Of
course, all of this takes funding. For
those of you who have generously contributed to the cause, your board thanks
you. To help bring this
organization into the 21st century, we need your help with a small
annual donation that we’ll ask for by the end of 1996.
More important than funding though, we need you to participate in the
future of our organization. We
would very much like to put on additional events.
But to do this we need to put into place mechanisms for choosing our next
board. Which one of you can help
make evenings like this possible? Well…now
is your chance. At this point we
would like each of you to fill out the form that is in an envelope on each
table. With this form, you can tell
us how you fell, what you would like to see, and most importantly how you would
like to become more involved in the Kawaga Alumni Association.
The Kawaga Braves who are helping us tonight will pick them up in five
minutes. With your input and
participation, we can all make our Kawaga Alumni Association a strong, long
lasting organization. Thank
you all for attending, and especially those out-of-towners who have come a long
way, all for the love of Kawaga. For
without all of you and your enthusiasm, none of this would have been possible.
We, as your board, will continue to carry on the legacy of the phrase Doc
E coined: “As God gave us the
fire, so gave He us the warmth of friendship.” So
kick back and enjoy yourselves. We
have a real special evening to look forward to. Thank
you |
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Kawaga Alumni Association |
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