CRS alum and LAJF Board Member, Evan Schwartz, shares why Camp Rising Sun has remained such a meaningful part of his life, and why he continues to give back, year after year.
Click to read his personal year-end note and gift match announcement! Please consider making a gift to LAJF and Camp Rising Sun before 2025 ends. Go to lajf.org/donate to give now.
LAJF and Camp Rising Sun are fortified by strong roots that stretch back 95 years. What began as a summer camp in 1930, is now a global movement that has grown generations of ethical leaders. Click to read the full end of year letter from our Executive Director, Barry Fulton.
Thank you for celebrating 95 Years of Camp Rising Sun! From October 24-26, 2025, we gathered at the iconic TWA Hotel to celebrate 95 years of Camp Rising Sun—and the global community that has made it all possible. Click to view photo highlights from the weekend celebration!
This year was the 11th Annual CRS NYAA Picnic in Central Park! Thank you to the New York Alumni Association for hosting and for everyone who joined us. Click the post to check out photos from the event.
Since 1930, LAJF and our programs, Camp Rising Sun and The Ethical Leadership Experience, have shaped the lives of more than 6,500 alumni from dozens of countries around the world. Across generations and continents, CRS and TELE alumni continue to lead with empathy, curiosity, and courage—bringing Rising Sun values into classrooms, courtrooms, creative industries, clinics, and communities. As we celebrate 95 years of impact, we’re spotlighting just a few of the many stories that show how a summer at Camp becomes a lifetime of meaning.
Here’s Liz Lee’s story—current Minnesota state representative of St. Paul’s Eastside district—who attended Camp Rising Sun in 2004.
During the second weekend of September, a large group of 1979-1981 alumni came together at our Red Hook campus for a weekend in the spirit of Camp Rising Sun! We are very grateful for the support of Camp Rising Sun and LAJF that the ’79-’81 cohort showed, and for the hard work that they put in. Click to see more pictures from the weekend!
Join us in welcoming Leo and Olivia — LAJF’s new social work interns! They’ll be supporting our programs, helping with camper selection, mental health for youth, and program inclusivity. Leo and Olivia are both current seniors at the New York University (NYU) Silver School of Social Work. We’re excited to have their unique experiences and perspectives on our team, so that we can continue to strengthen our program offerings and support for our participants. Click the link to read our interview with them!
Every month, we’ll be highlighting a member of our wonderful global alumni community. This month, we’re spotlighting Sarah Schecter (CRS ‘19, ‘21), who hails from Oakland, California! Sarah was part of our most recent in-person Camp cohort in 2019, and then went on to help facilitate our virtual CRS session this past summer. Through her experiences at Camp, she discovered what servant leadership means to her and the ways in which she can embody compassionate leadership in her own life. Click to read our interview with her!
Every month we send out an email newsletter to keep you — our community — up to date with everything going on at LAJF and CRS! If you aren’t already subscribed to our email list, please click here to subscribe. We’ll be sharing the link to the newsletter each month: Click to read the full September e-Newsletter.
During Virtual CRS, campers from around the world engage with each other in conversations about world issues, teach each other, and come together to make projects happen!
A group of campers created an in-depth video essay that analyzes the film "Legally Blonde" through a feminist lens. Get ready for your perspective on this movie to completely change!
We are excited to announce the publication of our Annual Report for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Please click here to read the report.
For LAJF, the 2019-2020 fiscal year was full of surprises, innovations, and new opportunities in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic and its impact. With no in-person Camp Rising Sun program over the summer and international travel being suspended throughout most of the world, the LAJF staff were hard at work reorganizing, restrategizing, and reimagining how to fulfill our mission.
LOUIS AUGUST JONAS FOUNDATION 6 RISING SUN LANE RHINEBECK, NY, 12572, UNITED STATES +1 (212) 686-1930 CONTACT@LAJF.ORG
The Louis August Jonas Foundation (LAJF) and Camp Rising Sun (CRS) have a long-held commitment to the principles of diversity, stemming from our mission. In that spirit, LAJF and CRS do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, creed, color, sexual orientation, nation of origin, gender, sex, or gender identity.
