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Listen in on Episode 3 of our Summer Camp and COVID-19 Series as Drew and David sit down with Ricky Wright, Camp Director in Michigan and discuss the realities his program faced when they chose to not operate summer camp due to COVID-19.

PODCAST NOTES:

What does a normal year look like at your camp?

We’re a year round YMCA resident camp serving youth through summer camps and outdoor education. In a normal summer we serve 1200-1400 campers.

What did this year look like for your camp?

We chose to not operate summer camp this year due to COVID-19. It was primarily just me on-site this summer with some volunteers and it was a lonely year. We took care of the property but it was a very different summer for us. 

What drove the decision to not operate summer camp?

The organization chose to not operate, but we were also under Executive Order to not operate from the State of Michigan. We had developed a three pronged approach to making the decision to operate or not. The safety of our campers and staff was the first question we needed to answer. The second piece of the puzzle was asking if we could offer an impactful program for the campers. Thirdly we needed to explore if operating would be financially viable for us. We had huge concerns about community health as well and the concern was that campers might be negatively impacting their own community’s public health after returning home from summer camp. In the end, the decision came down to community health and safety.

We were not alone in needing to re-evaluate our program and options this year. I don’t know of a camp that did “business as usual” this year. We all used the information available to us in April and May to make the best decision for our camp, and other camps made decisions for their camps. Every camp is different and we did what we thought was right for our specific programs and we still stand behind those decisions.

Let’s talk more about the 3 pronged approach to your decision making process. What kinds of things were you thinking about when you explored camper and staff safety?

The first thing we explored was the dining hall and doing meals. We contemplated a lot of options. Social distancing in general was going to be tricky as well as masks and equipment sanitation. One thing that we really needed to explore was how we were going to manage our staff, not just campers. Our staff are of a vulnerable age, coming from all over the country and how can we keep them safe?

How did you get to the point of not running any programs (i.e. day camps and family camps)?

I look back at our options and making that decision was right for us. We’re in a very rural setting in Michigan so Day Camp was not an option. When we thought about Family Camp it came down to staffing. It would have been very difficult to make it financially viable and keep everyone safe.

Can you tell us about how you managed your way through furloughing staff this year?

In general, your camp is as good as your staff. They are crucial. We lost some amazing professionals this summer. For us it came down to finances. It will now take an incredible rebuilding process to get back to normalcy. This year has been a very unique kind of stress, it’s been anxiety inducing because these decisions impact so many people. For the most part these people have been understanding but it is still so difficult to lose them.

Tell us about your Volunteers this year.

We’ve tried to make lemonade out of lemons, so we focused on physical upkeep this year, we didn’t want the facilities to fall into disarray. Our volunteers really stepped up to the plate and have pitched in all around. We had a married couple basically move in this summer to work tirelessly with our facilities and we are incredibly thankful. Another volunteer who has made an immense impact has been a 17 year old Junior Counselor who rallied some troops and really gave back. She took the initiative to help us out a lot.

What does the future look like for your camp?

We do not have plans to open this fall or winter, so we’re going to try and get through this year. We hope to reopen in Spring and Summer. At the moment we’ve begun a fundraising campaign to get us through this year and we’ll reset in 2021. This will mostly be an online giving campaign via social media with camp families and alumni. We’ve strategized for this campaign and it will be our first online giving fundraiser, and will last a couple months.

What kind of hope or advice can you share with others?

Nobody is alone in this. We can lean on each other and I’m optimistic for the camping industry. If we stay true to who we are and continue to make informed decisions that keep kids and staff and families as the priority we’ll get through this. We’re in this together. It will take a lot of hard work and camp will look different for a little while, but we’re going to get through this together.