Camps that serve greater Washington are seeing summer enrollment bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels, with the majority now adding families to a wait list.
A survey of 246 day and overnight camps across North America by the Foundation for Jewish Camp found that enrollment grew to 96 percent of pre-pandemic levels — up from 13 percent in 2021. Early reports show strong demand for summer 2023.
Directors of day and overnight camps that serve the Washington Jewish community say that more parents want their kids to get out in nature with their peers and away from screens. The directors say that is especially important because kids spent so much time online during the pandemic.
“Parents are looking for their kids to have a technology-free summer,” said Havi Goldscher, CEO of Capital Camps and Retreat Center, adding that enrollment through the summer, 850 campers, is back to pre-pandemic levels. “It has become more important than in the past, a time to really socialize with friends and be in nature.”
“We actually have a wait list,” said Rabbi Jill Levy, director of the area’s Ramah Day Camp that will serve a total of 350 campers this summer. “We are basically full for almost every week of camp.”
“We’re at capacity as it was prior to the pandemic,” said Rabbi Ed Gelb, CEO of Camp Ramah New England. Thirty-five percent of its campers come to the Conservative-movement camp from the Washington, D.C., area.
The Foundation for Jewish Camp report also cited that expenses increased at a 3% higher rate than revenues in 2022.
“We have done a very modest increase in tuition, which is in line with what other day camps have done,” about 4%, said Levy of the regional Ramah Day Camp.
Goldscher of Capital Camps said, “We’re finding the inflationary cost, which impacts every element of the work that we do, has required that camps meet those increasing costs and share those costs with our broader camp community.” Capital Camps offers many scholarships, she added.
“Our food costs are getting higher, bus transportation costs are getting higher,” Levy said. “But it’s important for us to stay affordable for our families and we also have a very generous financial aid package that we offer.”
Tuition at Ramah New England increased by 4% from 2022, Gelb said. But one-third of their families receive financial assistance and that doesn’t account for outside aid from federations and synagogues. Requests for aid are up 10%, he added.
“We work very hard not to turn anybody away because of financial reasons,” said Gelb, whose Camp Ramah gives 10% of its gross revenue to scholarships.
The Foundation for Jewish Camp survey reports that seasonal staff retention rates remain about 20% lower than pre-pandemic levels. To recruit and retain seasonal staff, 75% of day and overnight camps increased staff salaries this summer.
Camp Ramah New England has budgeted a wage increase for 2024, Gelb said. Of the Foundation of Summer Camp report, CEO Jeremy Fingerman said, “In summer 2022, camp professionals continued to juggle lingering COVID-19-related health protocols and an increase need for community-wide mental health support with the desire to return to business as usual.”
“We’ve had mental health support for decades,” Goldscher said. “We have dramatically grown that program in order to support the needs of our campers and staff.”
Kids have missed out on a lot of social opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic, camp directors said.
“After we were shut down in 2020 and 2021, there are more kids who are in need of mental health support,” Gelb said. “Many were coming from schools that were still meeting remotely. Coming to camp in that social situation, especially teens, was a big challenge for them. They had not had a chance to interact with peers and missed a year or two of critical development that would have happened. So I think it caused a lot of anxiety and depression for kids and they had to learn skills that they just missed.”
Campers have had virtual visits with their home therapists, which is relatively new, Gelb said. “That really helps because those relationships are built. So, I think a lot of kids are being supported with a team approach between the home therapist and the support teams at camp.”
“Our counselor was overwhelmed by the amount of attention that was needed from her, so we did hire a second part-time person,” said Director Talin Tahmasian of Lessans Camp JCC, which enrolls 450 to 465 children. “Being away from the social setting that the children do get to experience being in camp was taken away from them because of COVID.”
After a period without camp because of the pandemic, parents “really want to make sure that their campers are going to a place that’s safe,” Levy said, “where they’re going to be welcomed and embraced for who they are and where they’re learning and becoming enriched with nature, art, sports, music and all other things they love to do.” ■
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
