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A Partner In Empowerment

AMSKIER “CARING FOR CHILDREN” AWARD

(From left to right): Niki Bolduc, Service Director at AMSkier Insurance; Johanna Bush, Assistant Vice President of AMSkier Insurance; Aimee Skier, Vice President of AMSkier Insurance; Barbara Wortman, Director of Camps Baco & Che-Na-Wah; Allison Wortman, Director of Camps Baco & Che-Na-Wah: Jeffrey Skier, Vice President of AMSkier Insurance; and Henry M. Skier, President of AMSkier

AMSKIER “CARING FOR CHILDREN” AWARD

The AMSkier Caring for Children Award was established in by AMSkier Insurance to recognize camp owners, directors, and leaders whose achievements reflect their dedication to providing safe environments for thousands of children and young adults, and whose work has brought pride to themselves, to their families, and to the camp community they serve.

Below is the list of past award recipients:

Indian Head Camp (Shelley and David Tager)

Sesame Rockwood Camps (Dale and Howard Batterman)

Camp Riverbend ( Marianne and Harold Breene)

Camps Kenwood & Evergreen (Scott Brody)

Camp Stewart for Boys and Heart of the Hills for Girls (Silas and Kathy Ragsdale)

International Sports Training Camp (Mark Major and Kara Klaus-Major)

Independent Lake Camp

Tall Pines Day Camp (Marvin Domsky)

Camps Baco & Che- Na- Wah (Bob Wortman)

About 2019’s Award Recipient, Bob Wortman

After a lifetime of dedication to directing camps for children and young adults with his wife, Barbara, Bob Wortman, the second generation owner of Camps Baco and Che-Na-Wah in the Adirondack Mountains, has been honored posthumously with the prestigious National Caring for Children Award, given by AMSkier Insurance in Hawley, PA.

Wortman, born in 1953, attended Camp Baco in Minerva, New York throughout every summer in his childhood. For more than three decades he held almost every job at camp, including waterfront counselor to head counselor to accompanist for the camp musicals. Barbara arrived at Camp Baco in 1974 with Bob, whom she met while both attended Hofstra University. With her background teaching music and as a special education teacher, she was a natural fit.  After getting married, Bob and Barbara moved to Rockville Centre.

“The children at Camps Baco and Che-Na-Wah were just as much a part of Bob’s family as his own children and beloved wife, Barbara,” noted Henry Skier, President of AMSkier Insurance. “His motto was simple: how do we make sure every child who comes to camp is happy.”

In total, the Wortman family has operated Camps Baco and Che-Na-Wah for more than 60 years. Continuing in her family’s tradition, Allison Wortman, who grew up at Camp Che-Na-Wah, joined her parents and rose through the camp ranks to become a director, thus marking the third generation of Wortman family to lay down roots.

“Unpretentious, giving and straightforward. Bob was all about other people,” said Barbara Wortman. “He gave everything to the camps and the kids, and to teaching others.”

“Bob was the nicest person you’d ever meet. Everybody was his friend. He also had an amazing understanding of every kid’s needs,” added Mickey Huberman, Camp Baco’s athletic director and a dear friend of Bob’s from their time attending camp together as young adults.

Bob was actively involved in the camping community, having served as the past president of the New York State Camp Director’s Association and a former board member and committee chair of the American Camp Association New York/New Jersey section.