Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

After Lightning Strike at Reform Camp, Two Campers Released from Hospital

Two of the three campers struck by lightning at a Reform Jewish summer camp near Indianapolis have been released from the hospital.

The Goldman Union Camp Institute in Zionsville, Ind., has not released the names of the campers who were injured on Saturday, but said the two back home are from Cabins 1 and 12.

The three victims taken to the hospital were a 9-year-old girl from Missouri, a 9-year-old boy from Kentucky and a 12-year-old boy from Ohio. One was listed in critical condition by initial news reports on NBC.

On Monday, camp director Rabbi Mark Covitz said activities at the Union for Reform Judaism camp have been proceeding as usual. They include plans for a musical performance on Wednesday night by one of the camp’s bunks.

Corvitz also indicated that the camp has been somewhat cautious about how much information about the incident to share with other campers.

“I was struck, as I am daily, by what a remarkable and, yes, holy community this is,” Covitz wrote on the camp blog on Sunday, the day after the lightning strike. “I could not be prouder of how our staff reacted yesterday, nor more appreciative of the outstanding response from the Zionsville paramedics. Today, camp is up and running.”

Emergency officials reportedly were called to the camp at 1:40 p.m. Saturday, where they found camp counselors performing “lifesaving efforts,” an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report said, according to the Indianapolis Star newspaper.

It was not raining, nor was there a storm in the area at the time of the lightning strike, Indianapolis Police spokesman Kendale Adams told reporters.

Several hundred children in grades 3 through 12 are in residence at the camp.

The camp has identified the synagogues of origin of the injured campers: Shaare Emeth in St. Louis, Mo.; Rockdale Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio; and The Temple in Louisville, Ky.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.