Meet Our New Board Members
April Callender
Associate Executive Director, United Methodist City Society
Ms. April Callender is currently the Associate Executive Director of the United Methodist City Society. She has been with the City Society for over 20 years and provides overall management and supervision for all the programs serving children and families. Prior to joining the City Society, April served as a Senior Program Associate with the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies and began her career as a Program Specialist with the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York.
One of the major programs in April’s current portfolio is the Olmsted Camp and Retreat Center located in Cornwall on Hudson, NY in the beautiful Hudson Valley. Five Points Mission, the subsidiary of the United Methodist City Society and the entity that manages Olmsted has a rich history of inclusiveness in the children targeted for service, the staff hired to bring the mission to life, and the leadership that provides direction. April is proud to be a part of this legacy and as a woman of color is committed to ensuring communities of color are not overlooked in the world of camping.
Under April’s leadership, Olmsted introduced its very successful day camp program for the surrounding community, established partnerships with community organizations, and expanded program activities to include an impressive creative arts component.
On a personal note, April is a native New Yorker and a self-proclaimed foodie who can’t wait to support her favorite restaurants again.
Marc Honigfeld
Owner/Director, Trail’s End Camp
Marc is the Owner/Director of Trail’s End Camp and Owner of Chestnut Lake Camp in Beach Lake, PA. He was first introduced to the world of summer camp at age 15 when he attended Camp Twin Hills. He then went on to work as a counselor at Camp Roosevelt during his summer breaks, while attending The George Washington University. Like many, Marc loved camp as a child but believed those days were over when he graduated from college. After meeting his wife, Rona in 1990, they spent summers at Trail’s End, while Marc was obtaining his Law Degree from Boston University and ultimately became Co-Directors of TEC in 1994. In 2008, Marc developed and created Chestnut Lake Camp.
Marc’s dedication to the summer camp experience extends beyond the gates of Trail’s End and Chestnut Lake. He has served on the Board of Directors of the New York Section of the American Camp Association, Co-President of the Wayne County Camp Alliance, Chairperson of Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education (SCOPE), and Foundation Board Member of Wayne Memorial Hospital. Marc currently serves as a board member of the Wayne County Camp Alliance and member of the Pennsylvania Camp Alliance (PACA) lobbying committee.
Marc and Rona live in New York and have two daughters, Kylie who has recently started working full time for Trail’s End, and Mackenna, a junior at Syracuse University.
Chris Hudson
Director, Camp Highlight
Chris Hudson received his Master’s in Social Work from New York University and launched into providing clinical services to children and families. He then worked as an elementary school teacher in New York City’s public education system. However, he thought the skills and knowledge he garnered in forensic social work would be better utilized in the social service sector. Thereafter, Chris served as the Assistant Director of Comprehensive Family Services, an organization that provides clinical and therapeutic services to court-involved families and children.
Chris’s passion has been to provide children with safer spaces to express themselves and grow. That passion led him to be a fixture on the summer camp scene for over 20 years. Chris successfully blended his educational training in social work and varied experiences within summer camps by authoring a curriculum based on deliberate communication, active listening, and promoting positive behavior through creating culture. In 2011, Chris co-founded Camp Highlight, a sleepaway camp program for children of LGBTQ families. As Camp Director, his curriculum serves as the foundation through which LGBTQ families connect with each other and ensure that their children develop in an inclusive and loving environment. He is the Vice-President of the Pride Camping Association which aims to promote and support the inclusion of LGBTQ campers, staff, and families in North America. Chris has trained groups at the Legal Aid Society, the Department of Probation, and summer camps within the tri-state area about creating inclusive spaces for LGBTQ clients and colleagues.
Presently, Chris works at Partnership with Children when he is the Director of Social Work at an East Harlem middle school. Additionally, he is an adjunct lecturer and advisor at the Columbia School of Social Work, where he prepares social workers for the profession.
Briana Michele Mitchell
Director, AF Camp
Briana is the Director of AF Camp, a Change Summer camp where she works to create high-quality, summer opportunities for students that will increase their overall confidence, responsibility, curiosity, and independence.
A master of the bucket brigade and expert at capture the flag, as a camper, Briana spent her formative summers at a camp in Pennsburg, PA where she built strong, lasting friendships that carried well past those summers. She later continued her camp career as a counselor and activities director at an all-girls camp in Honesdale, PA.
Joining Teach For America in 2008, Briana was placed in Houston where she taught sixth and seventh graders reading and writing for four years. Following her time in the classroom, she has worked with several nonprofit organizations all aimed at helping students reach their full potential. Most recently, Briana was a Director of Operations within a charter school network in Newark, New Jersey.
Briana holds a B.A. in International Relations and a minor in Spanish from the University of Southern California (Fight On!). Moreover, she holds a certificate in nonprofit management from the Leadership Institute for Nonprofit Executives at Rice University. When she isn’t color-coding spreadsheets or singing camp songs, Briana can be found reading Young Adult fiction with her rescue pup, Pickles.
Briana is the Co-Founder of S'more Melanin A destination for resources, historical context, and connectivity centered around the BIPOC experience in the camp world.
Brianne “Brie” Overton
Chief Clinical Officer, Experience Camps
Brianne “Brie” Overton is the Chief Clinical Officer of Experience Camps, a national nonprofit for grieving children, and is called the “Grief Lady” by the kids she supports. Brie received her MA in Thanatology from Hood College and her M.Ed in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Missouri, St. Louis, where she is a doctoral candidate in counseling. She has spent 13 years in the field of thanatology, providing death and grief education, support, and counseling that has reached thousands of children and adults.
Robin Schafer
Nursing Director, Raquette Lake Camps
Robin Schafer CPNP, PMHNP-BC, has been a pediatric nurse practitioner for over twenty years specializing in pediatric and adolescent health. For the past 7 years, Robin has also specialized in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult mental health issues especially medication management. She was previously the director of health services at Iona College, managing all the medications for the students at the counseling center, and currently works per diem to assist them. During the school year, Robin manages a private practice specializing in medication management for young adults and adolescents with mental health issues. Robin is a doctoral candidate at NYU designing an educational intervention to teach counselors and camp nurses about the mental health issues experienced by children, adolescents, and young adults in a summer camp setting. Medications will be reviewed and protocol for handling situations properly will be discussed.
This will be Robin’s eighth summer as the nursing director at Raquette Lake Camps where she is joined by her husband, photographer Andrew Itkoff, and daughter, Mia Schafer.
Genna Singer
Director of JCC Camps, Camp Settoga, Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
Genna Singer joined the staff at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan in June 2002, assisting the day camp director during the first summer of camp. Genna grew up attending day camp and overnight camp and worked as a staff member in overnight camp for five years. In September 2002, Genna became the director of After School Programs at the JCC, while maintaining an active role in the summer camps as well. In September 2006, Genna became the director of camps. She developed our outdoor camp, the Day Camp @ Pearl River, while also maintaining our programs at the JCC: the Day Camp @ the JCC and Summer Stock Theater Camp. In 2016, Genna’s dream of opening a camp on our very own property was realized as she opened Camp Settoga. Genna was most excited to watch our camp traditions and amazing programming come alive at Camp Settoga. Genna combines a love of children, a passion for camp, and a desire to help families find their place at the JCC as she plans for the summer. Whether visiting the pool deck on the 6th floor, baking challah on the campfire, or wandering in and out of classrooms on the 2nd floor, Genna marvels as each child finds a new bit of his/herself at the JCC Summer Camps.