April 2020 update – COVID-19

Emailed to registered campers on 4/16/20

Hello from BR,

 

We hope your family is safe, healthy and staying strong in these trying times. As you can imagine many families, including ours, are wondering what will happen with camp this summer. We wish we could tell you camp is on as planned, or that we have made adjustments, but it is just too soon. Now more than ever, we could all use BR time. The opportunity to be outside, riding horses, and spending time with friends seems more important than ever. We remain hopeful, and are working diligently on feasible alternatives.

 

Last week, families registered for Alumni Weekend and Mother-Daughter Retreats in June filled out surveys. The feedback, about what would be helpful for families if we cannot operate as planned, was so helpful we have created an additional Google Form for all camper families . Please take a few minutes to let us know how your family feels about camp this summer, to help guide our leadership team. Please see the link below.

 

We await an accurate timeline for the recovery period of COVID-19. In the meantime, we continue to explore means to provide the safest summer camp experience. We are examining our camp policies such as pre-camp health questionnaires, initial camper health screening, and dining hall procedures. As well as, possible facility and program changes such as more access to hand-washing, smaller camper numbers per sessions, sanitizing during and between sessions, and any other options that may be effective. 

 

We closely monitor recommendations made by the CDC, American Camping Association, Association of Camp Nursing , MI Department of Licensing and other reputable sources. Most importantly, we wait for guidance from the Governor of Michigan and public health officials. Even when restrictions are lifted, we have to determine if we can run camp safely this summer. If we can, we will! Regardless of programming, staff will be at camp to care for the facilities and animals.

 

If you know now that you need to cancel a camp session, we understand, and appreciate you telling us as soon as possible. Please email us to let us know if you would like to roll over your payments and/or deposit to 2021, or if you would like a refund. Once the 2021 camp schedule is complete, families who leave their payments in their account will get to pre-register for 2021 and lock in 2020 pricing. This will help ensure campers get priority in the session they desire. Mother-Daughter participants will only be able to pre-register for the session in which they are currently enrolled.

 

We expect to have another update about this summer’s calendar around the first of May.

 

Thank you to all BR families who are working in essential services, as First Responders and other health care professionals.

 

Hoping to see you all this summer,

Miss Katy

Camp Director

Black River Farm and Ranch