Camp Kvutza at Kendall, New York, opened in 1937 and ran through 1941. It was situated on farm land along.Lake Ontario, thirty miles west of Rochester. A large two story barn served as the kitchen and recreation hall. The woods behind the tents and the hay loft behind the barn served as "rooms" for discussions and Hebrew lessons. The burned-out remains of a house nearby, inhabited by the ghost of two-fingered, one-eyed Pete, and the empty "haunted house" down the road gave the camp additional atmosphere.
I was only thirteen in 1937 when I spent one week at Camp Kvutza, and as a result, I cannot comment on the feverish activity involved in trying to set up the camp for the first time. From my experience on pre-registration camp committees in later years, however, I can fully appreciate the time and effort expended by the "older haverim."
Camp Kvutza catered to the Habonim of Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse, and was responsible for many lasting friendships. Permanent fixtures at the camp, aside from many of the Habonim members, were the cook, Havera Atlas, and Mark B. Hanopolsky, our departed haver and teacher. Our camp was not a large-one. It handled thirty to flfty-flve children per week. Many new Habonim members were obtained through the camp.
It is not difficult to measure the importance of Camp Kvutza to upstate New York. Had it not been for the camp, the Habonim camping experience would have been denied to most of the Habonim in this region.
1941 was the last year of Camp Kvutza. However, the loyalties it helped cement bore fruit after the war years in 1946. Several ex-G.I.'s (and ex-Habonim) formed the Enzo Sereni Labor Zionist group in Rochester. This group existed from 1946 to 1949 and was probably as active a Zionist group as existed in this country. Some of the baverim. who were campers are now in Israel. Many of the members of the Poale Zion and the Pioneer Women in the area are people who were campers in those years at Kendell.
Danny Owerbach, 1957