Jew­ish Book Coun­cil is thrilled to announce that our Pres­i­dent, Elisa Spun­gen Bild­ner, and her hus­band, Robert ​“Rob” Bild­ner, were award­ed the pres­ti­gious Hed­ley S. Dimock Award by the Amer­i­can Camp Asso­ci­a­tion (ACA) on Feb­ru­ary 6, 2024. Elisa and Rob have made incred­i­bly sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to the Jew­ish sum­mer camp world — a cor­ner­stone of the Amer­i­can Jew­ish expe­ri­ence. Jew­ish sum­mer camps allow for young Jew­ish peo­ple to con­nect with their cul­ture and iden­ti­ty, while cre­at­ing last­ing bonds with oth­ers in their com­mu­ni­ty. Elisa and Rob found­ed the Foun­da­tion for Jew­ish Camp (FJC) in 1988 with the goal of ​“uni­fy­ing and trans­form­ing Jew­ish sum­mer expe­ri­ences,” and FJC has since served over 300 non­prof­it day and overnight camps each sum­mer. The pos­i­tive impact of FJC’s work has reached more than 180,000 campers and young adults, pro­vid­ing trans­for­ma­tive expe­ri­ences and life-long memories. 

Elisa and Rob’s gen­eros­i­ty extends through­out the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty — they are lead­ers and pio­neers in their cre­ativ­i­ty and ded­i­ca­tion to uplift­ing Jew­ish peo­ple around the world in a vari­ety of ways, from Jew­ish sum­mer camps to Jew­ish lit­er­a­ture. As pres­i­dent of JBC, Elisa has brought new ideas and unfal­ter­ing lead­er­ship to the orga­ni­za­tion, and JBC is remark­ably grate­ful for both Elisa and Rob’s part­ner­ship and pres­ence in this community. 

Mazel tov to Elisa and Rob on this esteemed hon­or, and we express our grat­i­tude for all they have done for the glob­al Jew­ish community! 

Read more about Elisa and Rob’s work with FJC here. 

Read more of JBC’s Jew­ish sum­mer camp high­lights here.