COVID-19 and Its Impact on Summer Camps
March 24th, 2020
Safer at Home
Like so many other states, Wisconsin is implementing a ‘Shelter in Place’ plan due to the Coronavirus Pandemic (we’re calling it ‘Safer at Home’ in Wisconsin). We will be in full compliance and doing our part to keep our employees and community safe in hopes of ending this pandemic sooner rather than later so we can all get back to our more normal lifestyles.
This means we will not be able to ship orders nearly as fast as we typically do.
While the safety of campers remains the top priority for summer camps we do continue to believe that the 2020 summer camp season will happen and so do many camps. Our website is open for business and you can place your orders for camp. Your business is greatly appreciated during this time! As soon as the ‘Safer at Home’ order is lifted and it is safe for our employees to come back to work we will begin sending out shipments in the order they were received.
We have moved many of our office functions into employees’ homes. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. You can call us, you can live chat with us, and you can email us. Please be patient as we will have limited staff able to respond, however, rest assured that if you leave us a message we will get back to you shortly.
We hope that our camp families stay safe and healthy. Remember that we are all in this together and we will get through this. Thanks for being an Everything Summer Camp customer.
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March 16th, 2020
Last week was pretty crazy and this week probably will be too. With so much information flying around these days, it’s hard to keep up with everything and know what’s rumor and what’s real. What we do know is that Covid-19 is affecting the lives of our customers and that this is a confusing time. We’ve been trying to figure out what we can do on our end to help our customers and we think it’s best to stick with what we know. That’s camp. We’ll be updating this page as we learn more relevant information so feel free to check back.
UPDATE: Many camp families are wondering if the school year will be extended and if/how that will impact summer camp. We have started tracking the school closures, intended returns dates, and whether or not the schools will extend their year. Visit our school closings page for more details.
Here’s what we know:
The good news when it comes to camp is that it’s still three months away. Camp directors, already working to ensure that kids will have a normal camp experience this summer, remain confident that camp will continue despite this virus.
Like the national director of Camp Ramah, Rabbi Mitch Cohen commented, “We’re going to do everything we can, if it’s legally permissible, to operate our summer camps.” There’s also this flat statement from Nick Robbins, the executive director of Camp Mowglis, “It is our intent to proceed with the Mowglis 2020 season.”
Cases in the United States are expected to peak in about four weeks which puts us in mid-April. This means that we can expect things to return to normalcy in May—plenty of time for kids to get ready to go to camp. In fact, cases in China where the virus originated are already at a major decline.
Camp directors, while concerned, are prepared and intend to have camp continue this year. Our Sales Director, Matt DeMuth, has recently returned from traveling coast-to-coast across the country for various camp conferences. “I talked with a lot of camp directors and, while they’re all concerned and taking the necessary precautions, nobody’s canceling camp.” Camps are doing everything they can and remain confident that they can handle whatever might be left of this virus by the time camp arrives.
We understand that getting ready for camp isn’t the first thing on most people’s minds, but we’re here, shipping orders on time for those who want to start their camp prep right now. We’re taking precautions as a company to ensure that our workplace is sanitary and that our employees stay healthy so we can continue to serve you.
That’s why Matt is at home self-quarantining right now after his travels even though he’s feeling perfectly fine. We miss you, Matt and look forward to having you back in the office.
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March 19th, 2020
Hunkering down and remaining in our homes in the meantime will take some adjustment. Learn the best ways to utilize this time and check out this recorded livestream from clinical psychologist and summer camp expert, Chris Thurber. He's co-author of The Summer Camp Handbook and the creator of Prep4Camp.