Summer camps are open for registration
Operators are optimistic but future is uncertain
Every morning at 7 a.m., Ken Evans gets out of bed and starts baking cookies. He packages one batch while another’s in the oven. S’mores cookies are especially popular.
Since March 15, he’s been spending 16 hours a day baking cookies until he goes to bed at 11 p.m.
But Evans is not a baker. He’s the executive director of a nonprofit summer camp, Fort Lauderdale’s Camp Live Oak, which he founded 32 years ago.
His camp is at risk of becoming an economic victim of the coronavirus, so Evans, 65, is selling his cookies to keep his camp alive. His sales, which are considered charitable donations, have kept his office staff employed.
Schools have been closed for the remainder of the year, but with many parents working from home, afterschool programs haven’t been as great a necessity as they are in normal times. But as Florida considers reopening businesses over the summer, parents will need child care options, though the future of many summer camps is uncertain.
Registration is underway for dozens of camps throughout South Florida, despite the uncertainty of whether any will take place.
Camp operators are being optimistic even though registrations are down.
“As of today, we hope to be able to hold Pine Tree Camps summer programs,” wrote camp director Jayson Rubin in an email to families that had previously attended the camp at Lynn University in Boca Raton. “We continue to monitor guidance by state and local officials and the American Camp Association and will respond accordingly.”
For most summer camps, this means that if June and July roll around and health officials say it’s not safe for large groups to congregate, camp may not take place. Operators have started preparing for this possibility in a variety of ways.
“I don’t know how you keep five-year-olds six feet apart,” said Kevin Pickard, the leisure services deputy director for the city of Sunrise, which, like many municipalities, offers a city-run camp. “As far as the details of what camp looks like, it’s just too early. We’re more focused on how many campers we could take at this point.”
Both Pickard and Evans have seen a major decrease in registrations compared to last year, which Pickard attributes not to a decreased interest in summer camp, but to cautious parents waiting to see when and how health officials and politicians loosen restrictions on public meetings.
“We find most people are waiting to see how this shakes out over the coming weeks,” Pickard said. “A lot of cities are just waiting to even see what facilities are available. There’s just a lot of unknowns for everybody right now.”
To lessen parents’ worries, some cities, including Sunrise, are accepting registrations for camps, but are not accepting payment and will not process any payments until they’re certain that they can have summer camp. If state and local officials decide not to reopen parks before school ends, that would spell disaster for many summer camps, including Camp Live Oak, which holds its sessions at
Hugh Taylor Birch State Park in Fort Lauderdale and Von Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park in Dania Beach.
There may not be enough cookies to make up for that. Instead, Evans remains optimistic and is concentrating on what he can do to keep kids safe when and if camp goes on as planned.
“If the state parks say you can’t do a camp, that’s a whole other story to us, but we’re not pushing to do something that isn’t the right thing for children and their safety,” Evans said between baking batches. “I do feel good about us being outdoors. The fact that we’re in the fresh air and moving around has always been a positive thing.”
Instead of the old groups of 20 children, they’ll have groups of ten. The bows and arrows will be disinfected between archery classes. Rather than laying staffers off, they’ll have to bring on more, to make sure kids maintain social distancing and keep track of water bottles.
“We’ll be moving them independently through the program so they’re not always together,” Evans said. “I see children perhaps wearing masks this summer.” He paused before adding a motto that could have been about the cookies or about the camp. “Whatever it takes,” he said.
For summer camps throughout South Florida, visit the Sun Sentinel’s Summer Camp guide. Where possible, contact camps to see what the status of that particular camp may be, as these could change over time.
To buy cookies in support of Camp Live Oak, visit Campliveoakfl.com /get-em-while-theyrehot-spring-cookie-drive.