MILFORD, Pa. — It's a homecoming nearly 50 years in the making at NJY Camps' near Milford for Second Gentleman of the United State Doug Emhoff.
Emhoff and his sister toured the Cedar Lake camp, where he spent four summers in the mid-1970s.
"It's so great to be back here. I had so many memories coming here. Luckily the old yearbooks are still online and I looked at the yearbooks just to kind of remember when O was just like you at this amazing, amazing camp," said Emhoff.
But he wasn't just here to relive the good old days at camp, like when he was named the most athletic camper in 1978.
His visit was to share an important message against hate and antisemitism.
"I'm fighting against this epidemic of hate around the world and this scourge of antisemitism that we're all feeling," Emhoff said. "I know young people are feeling it in particular."
The Second Gentleman says the world we live in now is much different from when he grew up.
"We didn't have the antisemitism. At least it wasn't out in the open the way it is and we didn't have online. We didn't have this discourse out there like I said the epidemic of hatred. We came into office you could start to feel it you started to see some really horrible things that were happening."
Emhoff's visit comes after a judge sentenced the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter to death for killing 11 worshippers inside the Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018.
"Chest back, chin up and be proud of who you are love openly and freely with joy as Jewish people and that's what I'm going to continue to do for all of us," Emhoff said.