Northfield summer camp forced to cancel
Toolbox
By Thatcher Moats Times Argus Staff - Published: June 15, 2009
NORTHFIELD –The Boys & Girls Club summer camp in Northfield has been canceled this year, a development that has left club directors scrambling to fill the void for kids who had hoped to attend.
The camp was canceled because of low enrollment and because more families were seeking financial assistance even as less money from donations and grants came in, according to Tony Moulton, the director of the Boys & Girls Club in Northfield.
"It's been one thing after another, which has fed on itself," said Moulton.
The financial troubles left the camp with $2,000 for financial assistance, but there was $7,600 in requests for assistance, Moulton said.
Moulton said the Boys & Girls Club in Northfield – which has two full-time employees, including himself, plus part-time workers and volunteers — has cut where it can to try to avoid closing the camp.
"There was no other direction to turn," he said.
The Boys & Girls Club in Northfield is a unit of the broader Boys & Girls Club of the White River Valley, which also has units in Hartford, Bradford and Randolph.
The summer camps in Bradford, Bethel and Randolph will run this year, but a summer camp in Hartford may end up being canceled, said the executive director of the White River Valley Boys & Girls Club, Katina Cummings.
In April, the Boys & Girls Club in Northfield cut the summer camp from eight weeks to six weeks to try to salvage the program, but on Thursday, Cummings made the decision to close the summer camp after input from the staff in Northfield and a final attempt to boost registration, she said.
"We're very disappointed we had to cancel the camp," said Cummings.
The summer camp in Northfield is a day camp that serves kids ages 5 to 12, Moulton said. Breakfast, snack and lunch are served and the camp is part of the free-and-reduced lunch program. The camp is convenient for working parents, who can drop their kids off for the day while they go to work, Moulton said.
The camp in Northfield is geared towards fiscally challenged families, Moulton said, and at $115 is inexpensive as far as summer camps go. But the requests for financial assistance at least doubled this year, Moulton said, possibly because more families are struggling to make ends meet.
The Boys & Girls Club in Northfield also runs an after-school program during the academic year as well as a teen center. Those two programs are still operating, Moulton said.
About 20 to 24 kids had planned to attend the camp this summer, Moulton said. Normally, 35 to 50 kids enroll in the camp, said Cummings.
"It's heartbreaking as a director having to do this and talk to the families," said Moulton.
Moulton said he is scrambling to try to connect kids with church camps and camps in other towns to try and see if Northfield residents can attend there.
The Randolph unit of the Boys & Girls Club has some openings, and Moulton and Cummings said they could possibly have a bus service take Northfield kids to that camp.
Moulton already has his eyes on next year and has already talked to local businesses, who he said have shown support for the camp, and he hopes the summer camp will be up and running next year.
Cummings is looking forward as well.
"Want to work to rebuild so that next summer we can offer a camp," she said. "And we're hoping that it can be an even better camp and with more numbers."
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