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Shalom from GFC! We hope this email finds your family healthy and safe in what continues to be challenging times in so many ways. While many parts of our lives have changed over the last ten months, one thing has remained constant. We are so excited to welcome our campers and staff back to GFC this summer! 

Today’s email is intended to update you on our plan to open camp safely, while also recognizing that many things related to COVID-19 continue to evolve.  Over the coming months, we will share additional updates in writing and provide opportunities for you to have your questions answered by our staff in virtual town halls.

Creating and maintaining a healthy and safe environment for everyone has always been our top priority. As we prepare for Summer 2021, we continue to learn from the many camps that successfully ran this past summer, and we are grateful for the guidance from the American Camp Association (ACA), and our partnership with our colleagues across the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) camps.   

Here are some of our key strategies for the summer as we make plans for our community: (These plans will likely continue to evolve as we learn more about COVID-19)   

1. Activities and Program – As of now, we are planning to have close to our full lineup of activities at camp – including favorites such as our ropes course, lakefront activities, and our farm. We are carefully examining how our activities may need to be modified due to COVID-19 and are following guidance from the ACA and URJ COVID-19 Medical Task Force in this planning. Modifications include additional time between groups for cleaning, relocation of activities to outdoor spaces, and smaller group sizes.   

Historically, our campers have participated in activities with mixed groups of campers from their unit and sometimes other units. This summer, at the beginning of each session – likely up to the first 14 days of the session minimally – activities and programming will primarily take place by pod. Pods will be defined by cabin group and by shared living spaces. This will help to minimize the interaction across camp and allow us to operate in smaller subsets of our camp community.

2. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs)– Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) will be a cornerstone of our COVID-19 mitigation strategies this summer. NPIs include mask-wearing, handwashing, physical distancing, and being outside as much as possible. We anticipate that when campers are interacting outside of their pods, they will need to be wearing masks and in areas that allow for maximal distance and airflow. Additionally, facility modifications, including hand-washing stations and sanitizers throughout camp, large tents with fans to allow for more outdoor programming, and more water bottle fillers are in process. We will share more detail around those updates later in the spring.

At camp, we strive to teach the Jewish value of derech eretz – caring for our community. This summer, every day will be an opportunity to put that value into action, following guidelines around NPIs for our campers and staff will be critical. We will be looking to each member of our community to do their part in keeping each other healthy.    

3. Community Interactions – For Summer 2021, we plan to limit interactions with individuals outside of our camp community as much as possible, effectively putting a significant “bubble” around our community. We are realistic and recognize that given the size and make-up of our camp community, the GFC bubble will be different than your bubble at home.  

Some of the steps we are taking with this regard include: 

• We will minimize the number of local staff who do not live in-residence at camp this summer. Local staff will have minimal exposure to the camp community, will wear masks when interacting with others, and will follow the same rigorous NPI standards with regards to physical distancing, handwashing, and sanitization as the rest of our community. 
• In typical summers, we strive to be flexible with families’ outside commitments that may impact their time at camp. At this time, we do not anticipate campers being able to arrive late to camp or depart and return for any reason during the session.
• We do not plan to have any visitors to camp while camp is in-session. Our Jewish Life faculty – the rabbis, cantors, and educators who serve as tremendous resources to our programming – will arrive at camp only in time for Opening Day, will remain at camp for longer this summer, and will not return to camp once they leave. 

4. Vaccines – We continue to carefully track the vaccine distribution in the United States. At this time, we are planning for summer assuming that many members of our camp community, especially children, will not yet be vaccinated against COVID-19. As spring progresses, we will continue to monitor developments with vaccines and the timeline for its availability; we will remain flexible and adjust our protocols as needed.   
5. Testing and Quarantine – Many camps that operated in Summer 2020 mandated a quarantine period for campers prior to arriving to camp. We will carefully balance the need to quarantine and limit interactions with others prior to camp, with the recognition that many of our campers are already attending school in-person.   

Additionally, camps that operated in Summer 2020 had robust testing strategies. We anticipate the same for 2021 and are already preparing for protocols around testing, both prior to and during the camp session.   

We will have more details around quarantining and testing in April, as the summer nears and we have a clearer picture of the COVID-19 status in our communities.    

6. Mirpa’ah (Infirmary) – We are fortunate every summer to have a health center staffed by physicians and nurses, generally about six people at a time. For Summer 2021, we are looking to expand our medical team and we have set aside additional space at camp as isolation/quarantine space, if needed. Many of our health care providers have been working throughout this year in communal settings and they are well versed in operating within the parameters of COVID-19. Our health care staff will follow guidelines based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, state and local health authorities, and the URJ COVID-19 medical taskforce - a group of physicians from across the country (of which one of our own summer doctors, Dr. Ed Septimus is a member).    

We know this email was a lot of information and we look forward to continuing to share more information in the coming weeks and months as camp nears. Please join us for three COVID-related town halls this spring.

Sunday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m.

We are committed to keeping our families informed, and we are always available for questions and conversation. Should you have questions regarding COVID-19 and summer 2021 or wish to discuss anything in this email further, please reach out to Rabbi Erin Mason, GFC Director, at emason@urj.org.

This summer in Bruceville!

L’shalom,

Rabbi Erin Mason, Director

Larry Nathan, Director of Advancement

Stephanie Turek, RN – Head Nurse of Health and Safety

Ashley Swartz, APRN – Nursing Director

Fourteen days is the CDC recommendation for unvaccinated individuals. We believe that seven is sufficient for fully vaccinated individuals to keep other viruses out of camp.

• The ideal situation is to get both doses, three weeks apart, with the second dose administered two weeks before your session’s Opening Day. This will be easier  for those campers arriving second session.

• If you cannot get the second shot, you are still protected two weeks after your first shot. The second dose can be given after camp.

There is a group of staff members at the URJ responsible for developing guidance for URJ Camps. They work together with subject-area specialists.

• During each session, all campers are expected to arrive on time and not leave the camp grounds for non-emergency or non-business-oriented reasons. There will not be any out-of-camp field trips for campers.
• If circumstances allow or the CDC recommendations change, we will review this policy.

• Within Pods: Indoors no mask is needed. Outdoors no mask is needed
• With Multiple pods within a unit: Indoors masking and physical distancing. Outdoors no mask and physical distancing between pods
• Your camp packing list has specified the number of disposable masks you will need for your session (we recommend 6 disposable masks per day). We do not recommend cloth masks due to issues of cleanliness and loss.

Some of our staff are from the local community and will be “commuting” to camp. Our staff vaccination rule applies to them, as well. All of them will be tested regularly throughout the summer, as opposed to staff in residence who are only tested at the beginning.

There is an extra day built in to the process, but if FedEx cannot get the sample to the lab, we will make arrangements for you to go to a local lab, or you are free to wait in town for the results to come back. It will be easy for you to track the sample to the lab through FedEx.

Contact your camp in advance and bring the test results with you. After 90 days, if the camper is still in camp and if the camp is still in its testing week, the camper will pick up the same testing schedule as the rest of camp.

• You will be notified by GFC by phone and asked to pick up your camper. We will forward the lab results of the test to you.
• All positive test results are reported to your state of residence.

The vaccinated staff member will need to wear a mask during the week of quarantine and surveillance testing.

Every year the tuition at camp increases due to rising operating costs and ongoing improvements and upgrades to our program.

This year, we also anticipate additional expenses related to COVID-19 around staffing, equipment, testing, and more. 

We have standardized payment deadlines across all URJ camps, to create more uniform policy.

-150 days prior to Camp’s first session start date (January 14), 25% of tuition payment is due

– 90 days prior to Camp’s first session start date (March 15), an additional 50% of tuition payment is due (75% of tuition paid)

– 60 days prior to Camp’s first session start date (April 14), final payment is due.

If your family registers after one or more of these deadlines have passed, you will be responsible for the tuition percentage that reflects the current date.

If you have any challenges with this schedule please be in touch with Linda Matthews lmatthews@urj.org

Cancellation by 90 days or more prior to the first session start date – 100% of tuition is refundable except for the administrative deposit.

Cancellation between 90 days and 45 days prior to the first session start date – 75% of tuition is refundable.

Cancellation by 45 days or less prior to the first session start date – no refunds will be given unless stated below.

Camp reserves the right to refund any eligible refund in multiple installments as determined by Camp.   

Full refunds will be given without penalty (including deposit): for campers on a “Waiting List” (those not able to be placed in their desired session at camp) if at any time they choose to be removed from the list or are ultimately unable to be placed; if camp is unable or elects not to open because of government regulations, orders, or guidelines;  if camp is required to cancel the session of a child with a pre-existing health condition;  if Camp is unable or chooses not to open at their own discretion.

Refunds will not be made if Camper has attended any portion of the session at Camp. This covers all circumstances, including, but not limited to:

• Camper’s homesickness
• Camper’s refusal or inability to participate in the normal activities at Camp
• Camper’s violation of any rules, regulations, or policies at Camp for which Camper has been provided notice, and as described in “Camper’s Participation and Camp Program Expectations” section of the terms and conditions.

We know that the best practices surrounding COVID-19 are continually changing. One thing that was consistent with camps who ran successfully last summer was that everyone arrived on the same day, there were not any embedded sessions like our 10-day programs used to be. In order to give our youngest campers a 10-day option, 3rd-4th graders will all attend summer 2021 for the same length of time.