Board of Directors

A message from Camp B’nai Brith of Ottawa’s Board of Directors

Michael Polowin Welcome to Camp B'nai Brith of Ottawa's website! We hope that your electronic visit to CBB of Ottawa will be almost as much fun as visiting us in person. As we approach the 75th summer of giving Jewish kids the summer of their lives, we are very excited to have you visit us here and at camp, and see all that we have to offer our Jewish youth, year after year.

Camp B’nai Brith of Ottawa was founded in 1936, by visionaries from the B’nai Brith organization, who saw the need to get kids out of Ottawa’s largely immigrant Lowertown in the summer heat, regardless of ability to pay. And so it continues today. Long separated from the B’nai Brith organization, CBB of Ottawa is an institution of Ottawa’s Jewish Community, with long and historical ties to the Jewish communities of Montreal and Toronto.

Our volunteer leadership, our Board of Directors, is drawn from our Alumni and the broader community, with professional men and women serving in a variety of roles. All understand the enormous trust that is placed in our hands when every summer, these wonderful children arrive at camp, full of smiles and laughter, and looking forward to yet another “summer of their lives”. All understand the trust that is CBB of Ottawa, and the emotional connection all of our Alumni have to this wonderful summer camp, and the need to make sure that like my children’s grandparents, all of us can look forward to their children and grandchildren spending the summer making new friends, and telling the same stories we once told, all in a summer camp that reflects the sensibilities and concerns of today.

We also understand the importance of Jewish summer camps. The numbers are in, and we know that Jewish summer camp builds Jewish identity, builds Jewish community, and builds Jewish leadership. The notion of “feeling Jewish”, connection to the Jewish community, and building Jewish families are all enhanced significantly by attending Jewish summer camp, as has been the case with CBB of Ottawa, for over 75 years.

We invite you to join us in the wonderful adventure that is Camp B’nai Brith of Ottawa. There are a multitude of ways to get involved, from Board membership, to Committee membership, to registration as an Alumnus and attendance at Alumni events, to sending your children to CBB of Ottawa, to coming up and seeing us on Visiting Day. Donate funds to help us build and rebuild the camp, or help underprivileged kids have the summer of their lives.

CBB of Ottawa is many things to many people: It’s canoe trips and bonfires, and midnight swims, and Grey Cup and World Cup and Colour War and the Smolkin Shield. It’s newer traditions, like Nuclear War, and Camp Control. It’s friendships, and first loves, and the wind whistling through the trees. And it’s all of that, with Hebrew and Israeli connections, and Shabbat services, and Birkat Hamazon, and kosher food, and Tisha B’Av.

Get involved – CBB of Ottawa is more fun than you can know – and you can go home again.

Michael Polowin
Chair of the Board
board@cbbottawa.com