May 2020 update – COVID-19
Emailed on May 3rd, 2020
We did it! We made it through April at home! Hopefully, this email finds you well, and maybe even finding a rhythm in this new normal. At the BR, we continue to wait for guidance from the Governor and State Licensing Department. We also continue to develop contingency plans and want to share them with you. To read more about the possible plans for adjusting the season, and to give us feedback, please copy and paste this link into your browser: https://forms.gle/3Fba4BLGRmvVhL75A
Processing Payments and Tuition Due Dates:
If you set up an auto-payment when you registered, please know that we did not process any auto payments in April and we will not process payments scheduled for May 20th, until we contact you to confirm. The refund policy for summer 2020 has been adjusted due to the COVID virus. At this time, all tuition and deposits will be refundable. When we have confirmation that we can operate sessions this summer, we will announce an updated timeline for refunds and tuition due dates. Therefore, all tuition and deposits are fully refundable, and tuition payments are not due at this time. We will update this timeline on May 15th.
Cancelations:
If you already know that you would like to cancel for this summer, please contact us via email and we will process your cancellation. Please indicate which option you would like:
- Transfer the deposits and/or payments over to the 2021 Session. This will:
- Secure the spot in the same session next summer.
- Lock-in 2020 pricing for 2021.
- Be used towards your 2021 tuition.
- Subject these funds to the 2021 refund policy, and therefore fully refundable until March 30, 2021.
- Receive a full refund.
- Refund via check sent to the address on your invoice or
- Refund via credit card minus an admin fee of 2.5% (Please know we pay fees when we collect and refund funds. With the unprecedented volume of refunds being processed, this will help us keep future fees down.)
The next update regarding the summer schedule will be on or about May 15th, when Michigan’s stay-at-home order is set to expire. Our primary concern continues to be the health and safety of our BR family- staff, campers, and the greater camp community. We will continue to look to your feedback, the state, CDC, local health department, and the ACA to guide our decisions; we appreciate your patience and support.
Please stay well,
Katy Scott
Black River Farm and Ranch
Alumni Weekend Update:
We are going to need to reschedule Alumni Weekend in the fall. We will also hold a bonus Alumni Weekend in June of 2021. We have not been able to choose a date for the fall as of yet but are taking your survey input into account. I hope to have a scheduled date for the fall announced by June 1st. There are a lot of moving pieces right now and because alumni weekend requires only a few staff members it will probably be in September or October.
If you cannot reschedule for the fall or next summer. Let us know via email and we will cancel your reservation and refund your deposit. *Refund options are below
If you are interested in rescheduling we don’t need to do anything right now. Once we have dates for the fall and next summer we will let you know the easiest way to choose the session that works for you and we will move you into that session.
Thank you for being so understanding as we navigate through this difficult time. I have received many encouraging words and am so thankful for the BR community!
Wait-list Update for families
Hello from BR! Your camper is on the waiting list for a session at BR this summer. At this time, we have paused the wait-list, and are not filling up the sessions. As soon as we know more, and if we are able to, we will contact families on the wait-list to fill any available openings.
Thank you for sticking with us through this unprecedented time. We hope to see you this summer at BR, but if that’s not possible, we look forward to seeing you in Summer 2021! Registration for 2021 begins on November 1st.