Senior Robyn Goldberg credits Schechter Westchester with inspiring her to start Camp HOPE, a free day camp for underserved children in the local community. “I got a big idea,” says Goldberg, “and it all started with the ‘Butterfly of Kindness’ experience I had at school.”

Goldberg’s transformative experience began when an anonymous donor gave every tenth grader at SW a $50 “butterfly grant” with only one string attached: the money had to be used to do something kind for another person. Robyn convinced 17 of her friends to pool their money and host a summer fun day for the children of HOPE Community Services, a soup kitchen and food pantry that serves hundreds of families in New Rochelle. Goldberg couldn’t forget the joy she saw on the children’s faces as they slid down a giant water slide and ate Italian ices.

During her junior year Goldberg, who has been volunteering at HOPE Community Services for five years, won a two-year car lease in a raffle and chose to take the cash equivalent instead. Here was her opportunity to take the summer fun day and go bigger. “The kids from HOPE don’t have access to camps or water parks in the summer,” says Goldberg. “I wanted to give them a summer they would never forget.”

So Goldberg and her mother, Lynette, approached Carole Troum, executive director of HOPE Community Services, about creating a day camp for HOPE kids. Troum loved the idea but couldn’t provide staff, money, or even space for the camp. So mother and daughter created the camp themselves as a labor of love, organizing every detail from New York State certification to busing. SW was a huge source of support for the camp, with Head of School Michael Kay happily agreeing to host it on the Upper School campus and six classmates — Shoshi Bicky, Ilan Felberg, Will Jones, Josh Moher, Eli Siegel, and David Silver — donating their time as counselors.

Last August, Camp HOPE opened its doors to 35 elementary-aged children for one week. The lucky campers played sports, made slime, dyed t-shirts, enjoyed a magic show, and splashed in sprinklers. The camp was a huge success, prompting Goldberg, who acted as head counselor, to set a new goal for herself: to ultimately expand Camp HOPE into a full summer camp. Says Goldberg, “This experience changed my life.”