April Update

Dear Hayground Families,

It’s April. Spring is in the air and preparation continues for Hayground Camp. Tents are going up, staff is being finalized, programs are coming into focus. And while we envision the summer we all want, we continue to live in the era of uncertainty. Let’s address that uncertainty here.

Regardless of where we are with COVID-19 by July, we are absolutely doing the following things:

Playing outside as often as humanly possible

Running around (with moving air) all day long

These are fundamental to the Hayground experience. It’s a nice bonus that they happen to be helpful when it comes to COVID prevention.

We know that it is hard to be a parent (we are parents of Hayground Campers, too!) and to be thinking, “What is Hayground doing this summer to keep my child safe?"

We want to answer that question. But we are also conscious of the fact that three months is a long time and the modifications we would put in place today may not make sense (too restrictive or not restrictive enough) in July. While we are not committing to any modifications yet (other than bus service), we wanted to share with you the modifications that we are prepared to activate if circumstances dictate that we should. A “modification” (as we are using the term) is a change in the way we operate that raises the level of caution and reduces risk incrementally. 

Everything is a trade-off. Activating all of these modifications would substantially increase the level of COVID safety but significantly reduce the freedom of campers and counselors. If that’s what we need to do to provide a Hayground experience to our campers and counselors, then that’s what we will do. But the fewer of these modifications we activate, the higher the level of freedom and, therefore, social-emotional and psychological well-being. 

Which of these modifications get activated and which do not will be determined by our own judgement as well as the Suffolk County Health Department requirements (that are developed based on the CDC guidelines). It remains to be seen how many of these modifications will be activated. Stay tuned through the next three months.

We will be hosting our next News from the Sandbox (see Zoom link below) on Wednesday, April 14 at 8PM. This will be a one-hour call. I will talk about what is new in terms of the planning process and you will be given time to ask questions.  

News from the Sandbox Scheduled Meetings: April 14, May 12, June 9.

Depending on the number of participants, questions may be taken through the chat for efficiency’s sake. All questions will be added to this document. In some cases, we might be able to answer a question live because we already know the answer. In other cases, we will have thought of the question ourselves but do not yet have an answer. In still other cases, we will thank you for bringing our attention to a new question that needs to be addressed. All questions are welcome. 

You are always welcome to direct your questions at any time to info@haygroundcamp.org. Any questions that are asked in private will also be posted to the ongoing document unless, of course, they are personal in which case they will either be de-personalized or kept off of the list. 

Finally, all of these emails will be posted to the HaygroundCamp.org website under “News”.

Thank you for your support.  

See you soon,

Doug, Daniella and the Whole Hayground Camp Team