DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Tamarack Camps has received a $50,000 grant from the Donald R. and Esther Simon Foundation to provide support for COVID-19 related expenses and the camp’s scholarship endowment fund. Tamarack CEO Lee Trepeck said in a press release that the emergency funding will help provide continued stability for the summer of 2021, while the endowment support, which will be matched by the William Davidson Foundation, will help Tamarack secure its future.

The Donald R. and Esther Simon Foundation was founded in 2005 and assists projects that address Jewish life and identity, cancer research and support services, the cultural arts and social justice issues.

After canceling all summer 2020 programming due to COVID-19, Tamarack is planning to create a “bubble” at camp this summer with campers quarantined by age group in “pods” for the first two weeks of their session.

Tamarack is planning on reduced capacity for both campers and staff this year and will not be offering its annual Agree Outpost Camp, Western, Alaska or Israel trips.

Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies is hosting its sixth annual High School Writing Competition. The contest, open to ninth12th grade students in Metro Detroit, offers a $500 prize and $100 prizes for honorable mentions for a best original work of poetry, prose or nonfiction that deals with an aspect of Jewish culture and Jewish life, past and present.

Among suggested topics and themes are: a) Israelis and Jews: Do we speak the same language? b) Does Judaism have a diversity requirement? c) What does ‘proud to be a Jew’ mean in 2020?

The best two submissions in each category will be awarded a $500 cash prize, with awards of $100 for honorable mentions in each category. In addition, award-winning entries will be published online.

Deadline for submissions is March 1. For guidelines and rules, go to Judaicstudies.wayne.edu/ writingcompetition.