red pine camp news bulletin
Dear Camper Families,
We hope that you and your family are healthy and coping well with our current situation.
We are working to keep our communication lines open with our campers as much as possible, including what we do and do not know yet.
Red Pine Camp believes passionately in providing a camping experience for our friends, families and staff. Therefore, we have been working diligently to explore all avenues for camp. If there is a way to safely and responsibly open camp, we will do our best to make it happen.
As we have seen throughout this period, the situation continues to evolve at such a rapid pace that the more time we allow for things to unfold, the better chance we have of being able to preserve some form of summer experience. Today the province of Ontario released the “Framework for Reopening Our Province”. This framework is broken into three stages, with each one lasting an estimated two to four weeks. However, specific and measurable health-based criteria must be met in order to advance through the stages and no definitive date for stage one has yet been announced. So, as we have all been doing for the past 6 weeks, we must continue to be safe, stay at home and wait for our efforts to pay off.
Regardless, if we are able to open camp this summer, it will be different than what any of us has known in the past. There will be a need for flexibility and patience while we rework most processes in camp and add restrictions to keep us all safe and healthy.
As we wait with the uncertainty about what the summer holds, we are by no means pausing our preparations. Our Executive Camp Director, Business Manager and Advisory Committee have been mapping out a variety of contingency plans and possibilities for the summer. As we do so, we continue to be in constant dialogue with, and receive guidance from, our partners at the Ontario Camps Association, the Canadian Camping Association, Health Canada, our Provincial and local Health Department, all levels of government, our insurance company and medical professionals within our Red Pine Camp community.
In order to give ourselves maximum flexibility and still maintain the lead time necessary to adequately prepare our facilities, supplies, programs, and summer staff and their families for camp, the Board will share an update with the community by June 1 st at the latest regarding our plans for the summer. We recognize that other organizations may make decisions before then and so we are grateful for your trust, your partnership, your patience, and your support.
Please continue to direct any questions to us at redpine@redpinecamp.org or call the office and leave a message – we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Stay Safe and Stay Home,
Janet Cottreau
Executive Camp Director
Red Pine Camp