How a brainstorm session saved summer camp
By Chris Mackar
Painesville Recreation Department in Ohio was prepping for its busiest time of the year, but with the news of the COVID-19 virus, summer camp was not going to start on time and was in jeopardy of being completely cancelled.
With additional cancellations announced daily, parks and recreation departments across Northeast Ohio reached out to each other to come up with new ideas. Zoom meetings with up to 60 people were held to discuss the future of the year’s recreation programming. Painesville Recreation Supervisor Kevin Cindric attended these meetings and considered doing classes on Zoom or Facebook Live. One city suggested delivering activities to children’s houses. Our group liked this idea immediately and created a “camp in a box.”
Crafty Contents
“Camp in a box” allowed us to keep the department going and continue its mission, “ to enrich the quality-of-life for our residents and surrounding communities while focusing on the family unit and promoting good health and well-being.” We wanted this new concept to be special and safe while providing social-distancing activities during this challenging time. Each box contained sports equipment to get children outdoors to be active. Since the boxes were intended to promote both physical and mental health as well as to inspire children’s imaginations, a science project, an arts-and-craft activity, and fun stuff like a hat that can be decorated and silly sunglasses were included. Each kit contained instructions as well as the department’s office number for parents to ask any questions about the activities.