Greetings NaCoMe Family,
I come to you today with sad news. Our staff and board made the decision to suspend our summer camp operations for the summer of 2020. It was a difficult decision and we grieve this with you. While it may seem like one more thing cancelled along with so many others in this age, it’s also different. We can feel the need because of distancing of all kinds to be close, to be near each other, to be in community, and camp offers that. We feel the deep need to be together today, but ultimately what we decided is that doing so is not safe. Our staff and board for the past months have been evaluating the influx of information and the changing landscape we find ourselves in and ultimately, made the decision that bringing kids together just is not the best option this summer. It pains me to say that. But ultimately, being separate and being distant is not what our camp program is about.
We can all imagine the hugs that you get when you finally make that leap off the Leap of Faith, the high fives that you share when you finally hit a bullseye at archery, or even those huddles that your family group shares as your trying to make up your song at energizers for dinner each night. Those things can’t happen separate, and as a result we can’t run our camp program in a way that is outcomes based and missional and accomplishes our goals.
To our returning campers, I’m sorry we can’t have you back this summer. To our new campers, I’m sorry you can’t start your NaCoMe adventure this summer. To our parents of campers, there should be an email waiting in your inbox with instructions on refunds, or transferring your balance, or even donating your registration fees to NaCoMe as well as more information on next steps for you.
For those of you who come with retreat groups at NaCoMe later in the summer, in July and August, we are still hoping to host you at camp. We’re hopeful that the time between now and then is long enough for things to calm down and us to be able to welcome you at camp this summer. Our board is going to meet regularly to continue evaluating our summer calendar and we’ll announce next decisions early June.
To all people who love NaCoMe I want to be really clear: while this suspension does affect our in person summer camp programs, this decision does not affect our desire to be impactful and in service to our campers, guests, churches, and communities. We’re going to work hard at other alternatives to summer camp and doing things that are going to continue to impact those that we serve.
I also want to let everyone know that for more than a year until this point our staff and board have been making plans on expanding NaCoMe’s programs and facilities so that for generations to come, NaCoMe continues to be a place to build community, connect people with God, and renew spirits. Those plans will continue, even while things are quiet around NaCoMe, so that when we’re all ready to join together, we can do so and NaCoMe will be stronger than ever.
Grace, peace, and safety to you all and hopefully we’ll see each other soon.
