It’s summertime, my favorite time of the year. To me summer means barbecuing, swimming and baseball. But it also makes me think about my time attending sleep-away camp as a child in northeast Pennsylvania. I attended Jewish sleep away camp for 13 summers. It was great playing sports, being at the lake and making lifelong friends. One of those friendships began when I was eight years old, and years later, we were in each other’s wedding parties. I have friends from camp whom I have known for over 34 years. Not bad, for someone who is in their forties.

While summer camp is an invaluable experience, it isn’t limited to young people. There are camps around the country offering a wide variety of experiences for older adults. About a mile down the road from my camp was another camp called Block and Hexter. This camp was for older adults. Just like my camp, campers enjoyed being in a Jewish environment experience with swimming, hiking and arts and crafts. As a camper I visited Block and Hexter and enjoyed intergenerational programming. On one occasion, a bunch of us camped out by their lake and we forgot to put the cover over our tents. Well, it rained that night, and you can imagine how drenched we got from rainwater. Thankfully, the older adult campers did not join us for the overnight portion of the visit. Memories like that always make me smile, even though at the time I didn’t think it was funny.

Another camp for older adults is the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, Connecticut. This camp offers people 50 and over a 10-day camp experience that includes arts and crafts, lecture and discussion groups, campfires, tai chi, hiking, pickle ball, trivia and a trip to Tanglewood to see James Taylor. Sounds like an action-packed experience. The program even offers scholarships to people who qualify.

The Washington DC Department of Parks and Recreation offers adults 55 and older a chance to attend Camp Riverview for five days, located in southern Maryland. Older adult camper activities include arts and crafts, exercise, fishing and more. Across the country, there are a wide variety of older adult camps available, with experiences including cooking, singing, sports, music and wine tasting. Sounds like there is a camp for everyone!

At B’nai B’rith, we offer the biannual resident leadership retreat at Perlman Camp in Lake Como, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this retreat is for residents from B’nai B’rith sponsored Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) senior housing properties across the country to attend a weeklong experience to learn skills and programing to strengthen their communities. Residents who attend also participate in intergenerational programing, arts and crafts, swimming and a talent show, all set against the backdrop of the beautiful Pocono Mountains. The retreat is fully funded by B’nai B’rith and provides a great opportunity for residents to enjoy the great outdoors with other older adults.

What makes the retreat so special are the opportunities for the residents that attend to network and learn from each other, while enjoying the fun of being at a summer camp. Many of the participants have never attended a camp, and even if they have in the past, it was 50 to 60 years ago.

If people leaving camp have one-tenth of the memories I made at sleep away camp, they have done well for themselves. It’s nice to see opportunities exist for older adults to retreat into the countryside and enjoy the camp experience.

Camp offers a great opportunity for everyone to enjoy the fresh air, learn new skills and make friends. In retirement, I hope to pack my bags and go back to camp. Because who wouldn’t want to enjoy the great outdoors!

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Evan Carmen, Esq. is the Legislative Director for Aging Policy at the B’nai B’rith International Center for Senior Services. Click here to read more from Evan Carmen.