June 19, 2020
We are busy this week gearing up for a July 6th camp opening. We are confident the State of Illinois will progress to Stage 4 at the end of next week however we don’t anticipate having Stage 4 Summer Camp Guidelines right away. We also need time to train our staff and get them re-certified in various areas; some of which can only be done in Stage 4.
At this time we are planning to operate with the same policies that we put into place in May; hopefully with some more room for growth in our groups, indoor spaces and water activities. We will send the updated policies and procedures prior to camp starting. Our number one priority this summer will be to keep our campers, staff and extended families safe. This may mean limiting or eliminating activities from previous years, at least to start.
For any families that had only registered for the first 4 weeks we are extremely saddened that we we not be able to spend the summer with your campers. The decisions to postpone our start date did not come easily, but we feel that they are in the best interest of our entire community. As you know our camp fills up in February and at this time we do not have any open spots available for weeks 5 – 9. All refunds have been processed and mailed from weeks 1 – 3 and week 4 is being processed in the coming week.
If you still have campers attending anytime from the week of July 6th through August 7th at this time I ask that you please log into your registration account and ensure all contact information and camper information is up to date. If you have questions regarding your child being on a wait list or not please look here first.
Next week we will be sending out additional forms that we will require prior to the start of camp in an effort to minimize time and contact during drop off and pick up on the first day. In the meantime please email or call with any questions or concerns you may have. If you still have campers registered but your plans have changed for the summer, please email me if you need to cancel.
Thank you for your patience and continued support. This year we have 16 veteran counselors returning along with some new faces who are eager to give our campers the summer they’ve been waiting for.
May 27, 2020
Yesterday we were able to review the Day Camp Guidelines for Restore Illinois’ Phase 3 Recovery Plan and we have come to the very tough decision to cancel all June sessions at Peacock Camp.
We’ve been working very hard to put together a plan to make group size and all social distancing and disinfection/cleaning procedures feasible based on CDC and American Camp Association direction. The new State of Illinois guidelines that were just issued provide in part that “all water based activities are prohibited” and “all participants must wear face coverings when indoors”. Activities are recommended to be done outside as much as possible and we feel that without our water activities and the ability to freely move about the air conditioned building we are putting our campers and staff at a seperate risk, and we cannot manage that along with COVID-19. We also feel that with the limited activities and group sizes; campers would potentially be spending the day in their homerooms all day during inclement weather.
This decision did not come easily. We have spent the past six years building a camp culture and program that we are proud of but don’t feel that we can adequately demonstrate that during Phase 3 of Restore Illinois.
At this time we will be cancelling June sessions. We will hold all spots in July and August should we move to Phase 4 with lifted restrictions, specifically water based activities. All deposits from June will be transferred to future weeks if applicable. If you do not have future weeks we will refund your deposit amount. We understand that you may not be able to wait for further decisions in regards to July or August; if you choose to cancel completely we will refund your entire deposit. You can email us or use the survey sent last Friday.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. And on behalf of the entire Peacock Camp staff please let your campers know that we are thinking about them and will miss them next month.