April 5, 2020
This page was originally posted on April 6, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, announcing to our families that Outpost would be closed for the summer. We have kept it on our website for reference purposes.
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Dear Campers, Parents, Staff, Friends, and Family,
Outpost Summer Camps will be closed for the Summer 2020 season.
Outpost Summer Camps will be back for the Summer 2021 season.
We want to share with you why this is happening.
Our family has built this organization over the last nineteen years on two core values:
- Creating a physically and emotionally safe environment for our campers and our staff
- Providing a program with social interaction and meaningful relationships as the most important components
Today is April 6, 2020. One of us holds a graduate degree in child development, the other is a licensed clinical psychologist, and we are parents to five kids. We both know and accept the reality of this pandemic:
- There have been and continue to be unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control.
- Because of that, we cannot operate a program that will be safe for our employees and campers.
- Because of that, we cannot provide a program that aligns with our mission: the enrichment and development of each camper’s social, emotional, and physical skills.
Closing camp is a difficult reality for us personally, as a family, and as business owners. But we cannot “guess” or “hope” that things will change enough in two months to safely operate a camp. Camp doesn’t just start in June. For our team, it starts in January and continues through the spring.
Camp the way we we do it at Outpost looks and feels like this: children and staff close together in small and large groups, personally, and powerfully. Playing, laughing, hugging, swimming, riding vans, and building relationships.
Outpost is the opposite of social distancing. The benefits of it are tremendous and magical. And no matter what changes in the next two months, these unforeseeable circumstances have made it impossible for us to run our Outpost program safely and appropriately.
The most important thing to our family is to be able to continue to offer Outpost Summer Camps for thousands of children and their families in the future. We will be back in Summer 2021, better and stronger than ever!
To PROSPECTIVE FAMILIES viewing our website in hopes to enroll your child this year, thank you for visiting, we are sorry we are closed, and we will be back next year.
To our FAMILIES WHO ENROLLED for summer 2020 – we are so disappointed in this, and we’ll be contacting each of you soon about your enrollment. Please click here to read more.
To our CAMPERS – we will miss you so much, and we feel sad. We also are saving a space for YOU next summer! Click here to read more about this, and if you write to us, we’ll send you something from the Outpost stash!
To our STAFF – our fellow stakeholders in this work and mission – we are already missing the noise and chaos. Outpost will be back and stronger than ever in Summer 2021. Click here to read more.
To EVERYONE, including our family, friends, vendors, partners, and community members who have been part of Outpost for years – thank you. Thank you for understanding, thank you for your support, and we send our most sincere wishes to you and your loved ones during this challenging time. We hope each of you is safe and secure.
Sincerely,
Stuart and Kelly Jones, Outpost Owners/Directors
If you would like to reach out to us with a message of support, we are welcoming them. Email us at office@outpostsummercamps.com.
Each year Outpost provides a Campership Program to qualifying families in need. If you are interested in making a donation to this program, it is tax-deductible. Click here to support our Campership Program!
