This-N-That

How’s Everyone Doing Out There?

We know it’s been tough, so we asked readers to share how they fared through the pandemic and beyond. Here are some responses from those who were graciously willing to share. If you would like to add your thoughts to the conversation, feel free to drop us a line at editor@northstarpubs.com. 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

It's hard to believe that it was more than two years ago that COVID-19 shut down the country and the world so abruptly.  No one could have ever imagined or prepared for what we have experienced. While some things were already headed in that direction (i.e., remote work, virtual learning, etc.), COVID-19 accelerated the process, literally overnight.

While NC State University made the decision to cancel all in-person activities for the summer of 2020, including academic classes and all youth programs, it gave us plenty of time to pivot to a virtual camp experience—the first ever in my 25-year career working with summer camps.  Thanks to the leadership and skills of my colleague, Angela, and the work of our NC 4-H Camps team and partners, we were able to offer a week-long virtual camp that was overwhelmingly successful.  We served over 550 families from 87 counties across North Carolina and 17 U.S. states.  We offered this free of charge as a service to the community on behalf of one of two land-grant universities in North Carolina, NC State University and NC A&T State University.  We also saw this as a marketing opportunity to grow our brand and recruit future campers.  The data from a virtual camp evaluation demonstrated the need for community and connection.

The return to in-person summer camp in 2021 was the most challenging and difficult summer camp season of my career.  The same was said by all our camp team members.  While we spent nine months planning and preparing for running camp safely during the pandemic, the challenging part was not COVID-19, it was staff members.  From recruiting enough seasonal staff to be fully staffed to meet the minimum ratios for camper supervision, to having strict COVID-19 protocols in place that changed staff members’ routines, to navigating some of the most challenging situations, it was a summer unlike any other. 

That is why I focused the majority of my attention, energy, and time in 2022 on the most important resource—staff members. Through the toughest of times, we continue to focus on the mission and purpose of summer camp—to provide life-changing experiences while creating community and connection for youth.

Dave Herpy
NC 4-H Camping Specialist
NC State University

Time To Wait 

In 2002 we turned, a broken-down, closed, non-profit Christian overnight camp into a day camp. We threw out the steel bunk beds. Ripped out the showers in the bath house. We built seven buildings, and spent over million on renovations and new construction. In 2019, we generated over a million dollars in revenue running a 10-week day camp. We hosted 400 children every day for 10 weeks with 124 staff members and had a waitlist of hundreds of kids that never got into camp. It was the greatest summer ever! We were dreaming of building more buildings and growing even bigger.

In 2020, we were sold out by March 1 with a waitlist. The governor of Massachusetts said he hoped children would be back in school by May to take final exams. We imagined that this was going to be our finest hour. The children needed to go to camp. When the state finally issued the regulations to operate during COVID-19, it was unbearable. On June 1, we posted a video telling everyone that we would be closed for summer 2020. We refunded parents all of the camper fees. We lost $20,000 on credit card fees. We spent our cash savings to pay the bills that year.

In 2021, we operated 10 weeks of camp for 260 children under COVID-19 regulations. We sold out in two weeks. In 20 years, we never saw the children happier. It was a great summer.  We paid our bills and saved a little money.

For this summer, we are having 10 weeks of camp for 300 children each week. Inflation and minimum wage increasing to $15 per hour in Massachusetts is making everything more expensive. We are reluctant and hesitant to try to build any new buildings with the cost of construction. We want to build a steel pavilion for a gymnasium, but are being told the cost is up 50 percent and there is a 10-month wait for delivery. It just seems it's time to wait.

We are waiting for COVID to fade away and the cost and demand for construction to come back to normal. We are working around the edges, trying to do whatever projects are possible.

George DeTellis
Executive Director
Camp Woodhaven
West Boylston, Mass.