Jookender Family Camp September 2025

Welcome to Jookender Family Camp!

Our family camp happens twice a year and brings lots of joy and happiness to everyone who had ever joined us! Traditionally, our September camp is happening at the grounds of Summer Camp Avoda. For the weekend of our camp, we will own the entire territory, including, but not limited to their private beach on a beautiful, secluded lake, free and unlimited use of boats, paddles, kayaks, and everything that swims, climbing walls, all kind of sport fields, tennis courts, etc. etc. The territory is very compact, yet, you'd always think there is plenty of space for another 100 participants. The food is great, and includes a healthy balance of fruits and veggies, and very decent meat meals too. The rooms are very spacious. The dogs are allowed if they are friendly to children and adults, always on a leash, and won't bark the entire night to protect you.

Have financial difficulties? Ask Sasha, she might be able to find a right solution for your family.

Sign up for our camp that will last from September 12 to September 14, 2025 and bring your friends!

Lets get together again!

If you’re a new family who has never camped with us in prior, please read carefully the description. If you are a returning family, please, also read it!

This event will take place at Camp Avoda, 23 Gibbs Rd, Middleboro, MA

The camp lasts from Friday night (Check in - 6:00pm) to Sunday night (Check out – 6:00pm)

Here, at our camp, both parents and children get entertained.

For the children, we will be dividing them by age-appropriate groups, and Teen-Volunteers will be assigned to them. Teen-Volunteers are responsible to deliver your kids from one class to another, and, if capable and scheduled for – fill-in the gaps between scheduled activities. Please, treat our Teen-Volunteers (TVs) as children too. They are not responsible for the safety of your children – you do. This is a family camp, and parents are obliged to take an eye on their children.

We will be happy to invite Teenagers age 15 and up, who are either green card holders or citizens (for security reasons) to become Teen-Volunteers at the camp, FREE of Charge, as long as they are capable of performing the tasks well. If you’re not sure, please contact Nikol Lupu, our Teen-Volunteer Coordinator at nicoletabest03@gmail.com

Lux houses set apart from other houses. You still need to bring your personal belongings, blankets, pillows (or sleeping bags), linens and towels with you. Actually, linens are provided, but we highly recommend you to bring your own. It is definitely less noisy there. You’ll be able to place your car next to the unit or as close as possible to the unit, instead of bringing it back to the parking lot. On the registration form, there is a short description of each building and you’ll be able to select a Lux house on your own, based on the availability. Lux house at a summer boy's camp is not exactly what you think of. They are more secluded might have air conditioning and heat, and glass windows, and a few better beds (see housing description in the registration form), but other than that, you must understand that it's just a term to distinguish a little better conditions from all other types of living. There is a room for a few tents in the same area, but we will only be placing them there, if you express any interest in having your friends in tents live near you and use your bathroom facilities.

Bunk Houses: This is just a camp, so you need to bring everything with you. The bunkhouse rooms are equipped with twin bunk beds, matrasses, dressers, and electricity. The portable heaters are no longer available (as they tend to shut off the electricity of the entire facility). Please, bring extra blankets and don't forget to close the shutters before dark, so the room keeps its heat from the daylight. It’s up to you, if you wish to move the beds around, add a bed, remove one, etc. The Bunk rooms are usually large and have enough space to include your family and add an extra family at your permission. Initially, each family will be provided with it's own room.

Each Bunk House has 2 wings, each wing – 1-3 rooms, and they share bathrooms: 4 sinks plus 4 closing toilet cabins in each. The Shower House is a separate building (one for men, one for woman). Some bunkhouses are now equipped with outside, but attached to the bunkhouse, shower cabins. One more thing about the Bunk houses. The house numbers get changed every time – that’s the camp policy. So, if you’ve been in bunk 1 last time, this doesn’t mean that the same building will have that same number this time. Please, allow us to figure out, which unit is better for your family in particular.

Camp Sites: This is not your regular campsite. It's just a place for your tent. There is no place for additional furniture, no campfire near the tent, and no water or electricity. All tents go side by side, next to each other. You'll be using shower buildings and common bathrooms on the property. You will need to bring everything you normally bring for camping. If you don't have a tent, you may inquire in Jookender - we have some spare tents we can offer you free of charge for this event (but you will have to return them to us after the event).

Food: based on our conversation with camp, and your previous requests, food will include meat, chicken, pasta, rice, salad bar and deserts. If you note your allergies or medical diets (e.g. diabetes) on the registration form, the camp will accommodate you. Things, like milk replacement or any perishable food items can always be requested at the dining window, because that cannot be stored w/o a refrigerator for a long time. Snacks will also be included. Moreover, if you fill hungry, come any time to the kitchen, and “Grandma Ronni” will find something for you to chew on.

Activities: All activities, classes for kids and adults, and services like SPA or Sauna and common entertainment are included. You don't need to pay anything extra for participation during this weekend.

Schedule: As always, our schedule is based on several things:

• Number of SSkilled Volunteers
• Grants
• Number of people signed up and paid full price for the camp.

Therefore, we cannot have schedule for you right away. But trust us, we’re already working on schedule day and night, polishing and perfecting it. If you wish to look at one of our previous schedules (2019) camp schedule, download it from here. We will be informing you through our newsletter, as well, as through our Facebook group of any new/secured classes or events we’ll occur on camp.

Bracelets: bracelet are needed to assign kids to different age groups. Each bracelet color corresponds to a group of children. Adult bracelets are always White, unless an adult is a volunteer/Teacher (then, it's Green). Teen volunteers, assigned to the groups, will wear one green bracelet and one colored bracelet, corresponding to the group of children they are assigned to. We’ll try to make sure, each child’s group is no more than 15 kids/3 Teens, unless we have some activities that are for several groups at the same time, like sports activities, or animal show. We will also try to make sure, each group has an opportunity to make it everywhere, instead of signing up to one class or another. This might or might not be true with the Adults. Adults will not be divided by groups and will be able to join any activities, based on the spots available at the moment. Each group will be wearing its color bracelets. Please, do not remove them. Teachers will not admit people without bracelets to their class. Teen-Volunteers will be wearing 2 bracelets – one, green will represent their belonging to the group of Volunteers, and the other bracelet will depend on the group of assigned children, so parents and children could recognize their leader. You will also need your tickets for the Jookender Lottery at the camp.

Parking: in designated areas only. No parking at the grass field at all. Once unpacked, please, move your vehicles to the designated parking area outside of the camp (where you've checked in upon arrival). Do not block roads and field entrances - they must be available for the Emergency vehicles entrance.

Teen-Volunteers: Please, remember, they are still children. The previous “generation” of the Teen-Volunteers went to colleges, graduated, or simply disappeared. The newly-selected Teen-Volunteers are inexperienced, and cannot be fully reliable. The Teen-Volunteers will be told to obey our rules and our assignments, not yours. They will be given specific requests, and they will be performing specific tasks for us. Please, make sure you understand, they will not change diapers, and will not babysit someone’s child, if the child refuses to be part of the group. They simply don’t have the capacity to do so. Please, be a responsible parent, not just a young adult came to get some fun.

Register Teen-Volunteers

Prices:

Early bird special ends on June 30, 2025

Refund Policy: 100% until August 15 (11:59 pm EST), 75% until August 31 (11:59 pm EST), 50% until September 11. No refunds after the camp begins. Not sure? Think of purchasing a Travel insurance elsewhere.

We don't ask for permission for the pictures taken at the camp. You'll need to agree on that by default. Many photos will be taken by professional photographers and by other parents. It'll be tough to distinguish one child from another this way. The pictures might be shown later on our Facebook group, on our website, in a video, on a reel, or on an Instagram account, and they can be presented to the grant givers. This camp cannot accommodate you if you cannot make peace with it. All other needs can be accommodated, one way or another.