Balloon Mix-Up Nets Ice Cream Sponsor for Campers

It was a trip to a Bronx vet that ended sweetly for a Boro Park day camp.

Shocked Ohr Moshe campers were treated to ice cream last week Thursday by a stranger from the Bronx who responded to a “Balloon Day” request, according to the head counselor.

Mendy Elias told Hamodia that the day camp had a balloon activity last week Monday in which every camper wrote a request on a piece of paper, put it inside a balloon, and released it to the skies.

The activity, which several camps do every year and Ohr Moshe has done for the past seven years, has generated rumors about prizes earned, but Elias said he never heard anything concrete.

So he was surprised last week when a woman called that she found a balloon outside an IKEA store with a request written inside: “Please sponsor an underground pool for Ohr Moshe day camp.”

She wrote back apologetically that she couldn’t afford a pool, but enclosed a dollar “toward the pool.”

But that wasn’t all. Over in the Bronx, Kenny — his last name is  not known — took his dog to the veterinarian when the animal had trouble breathing. The vet took a look at the lung and removed a balloon — that contained a note inside.

“Please sponsor ice cream for our bunk,” read the memo, addressed to the “finder of this note.” Underneath was the name of the day camp, along with an address.

The dog was given a clean bill of health and Kenny drove to Brooklyn and made his way to Ohr Moshe, which is located at 17th Avenue and 58th Street.

“He just popped in without calling before,” Elias said. “He came into the office, showed them the letter, and he was sent to me in the lunchroom.”

When Elias heard the story, he was nervous that Kenny would be upset. Instead of being angry, Kenny said he would like to sponsor ice cream for the entire camp!

“He showed me the letter, asked, ‘Is this from your day camp?’ and I said, ‘yes,’” he said. “I was scared he would scream at me because of the dog.”

Kenny wrote out a check for $300 and then left as someone was dispatched to Klein’s ice cream to purchase two tubs of ice cream for all 220 campers, along with sugar cones.

“I thought of making a [color war] breakout,” Elias said.

This article appeared in print on page 12 of the August 7th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.