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A30 FEATURE
Thursday 7 May 2020
With camps shut, families face summer in the great indoors

By GILLIAN FLACCUS the session shorter, presi-
Associated Press dent Trey Devey said.
Welcome to summer in The Girl Scouts of Oregon
the great indoors. Parents and southwest Washington
around the country are canceled in-person camps
learning their children's for thousands but will roll
summer camps will be can- out virtual experiences in
celed, delayed or moved June, said Allie Roberts, di-
online as the fallout from rector of programs for the
the coronavirus seeps into Girl Scouts in 33 Oregon
another facet of American counties and three coun-
life. From New Hampshire ties in Washington state.
to California, camps and The Girl Scouts' 111 councils
parents are scrambling as nationwide are each find-
Zoom campfires and "vir- ing an approach that suits
tual cabins" in the living their region and member-
room become more likely. ship. "It's a heartbreaking
It's a blow for children — decision but it's the right
and their parents — who decision for the safety of
our girls," Roberts said.
Other camps are shutting
down completely. Admin-
istrators in Florida realized it
In this July 6, 2015, photo released by Camp Kiwanis, games instructor John Griffin, right, shouts was impossible to practice
directions through a megaphone as campers look on at Camp Kiwanis in the Ocala National
Forest near Ocala, Fla. proper social distancing
Associated Press at Camp Kiwanis, a sleep-
away camp tucked along
have spent weeks cooped ing to the American Camp all or part of the tuition or a lake in the Ocala Nation-
up during school closures Association. The associa- apply it to next year. al Forest. Each week, over
and had considered camp tion, which represents more That backfired for Galileo 100 kids spend four nights
a reward for adhering to than 3,100 camps, has Learning, a San Francisco- and then go back to their
weeks of social isolation hired independent health area camp that enrolls homes in Marion County,
and homeschooling. It also experts to draft recommen- thousands of children, after which is seeing new coro-
will squeeze nonprofits that dations for camps, and
rely on the infusion of cash many still hope to open,
from camp payments and said Tom Rosenberg, group
put young counselors out president and CEO. Camps
of work. also are awaiting guid-
"When we finally found out ance from the U.S. Centers
that schools were going to for Disease Control and
be closed for the rest of the Prevention and input from
year, I was like, 'Well, there's state and local health de-
always summer camp.' I partments, he said.
was really holding out for "Most camps are not asking
that," said Rasha Habiby of if they're going to open but
Los Angeles. how they're going to open.
Her 10-year-old daughter's It's essential," Rosenberg
first-ever sleep-away camp said. "Right now, 20 million
has been canceled, and kids that would normally In this undated photo released by Camp Kiwanis, a lifeguard
they're both devastated. be going to camp are cast chair stands as the sun sets on Mill Dam Lake in the Ocala
Habiby and her husband adrift in a sea of screens." National Forest, where Camp Kiwanis has hosted local children
have demanding work Camp Walt Whitman, a since 1948 near Ocala, Fla.
schedules but kept their seven-week overnight Associated Press
kids away from her parents camp in New Hampshire's
to avoid possibly spreading remote White Mountains, it canceled and credited navirus cases daily, camp
the virus. Now, she said she sent parents a letter with families for next year. After director Scott Mitchell said.
may be forced to ask them three options: canceling, an outcry, the company The camp has been a fix-
to baby-sit. postponing or going for- asked parents whether ture for 72 years, and one-
"I panic. I cry. I do all those ward with social distanc- they would like a full or quarter of the children get
things. But what other op- ing and other precautions. partial refund or a credit. scholarships from the local
tions are there?" Habiby The camp, which charges A Galileo statement said it Kiwanis Club, he said.
said. "I know we're not the $13,000 for the full session, had laid off or furloughed "Go on Netflix and find the
only ones in this situation. will decide after May 20, more than 80% of year- cheesiest summer camp
I'm keenly aware of that director Jed Dorfman said. round staff. Other camps movie you can find, and
— but somehow it doesn't For smaller camps, cancel- are racing to move online. that's us. It's a traditional,
make it any easier." ing could mean financial Interlochen Arts Camp, good old-fashioned sum-
An estimated 20 million ruin. Many nonprofits rely which enrolls 2,800 kids and mer camp," Mitchell said.
U.S. children attend sum- on camp fees for their bud- teens from 50 countries "It's kind of a sad day for
mer camp each year, fu- gets and to pay contracts in its prestigious summer our community. ... But if you
eling an $18 billion industry signed in advance. Some program in Michigan, will look at other places that
that employs over a million that have canceled are switch to virtual lessons and have really been hit, it's a
seasonal workers, accord- urging parents to donate workshops while making small price to pay."q