2021 Camp Season Update

Program Status & Structure

• One of the biggest changes that we will be implementing to our signature Family Camp program is that we will be moving to a session-based booking and stay structure. This means instead of selecting a custom arrival and departure date, families will choose a session of predetermined length with set arrival and departure dates. This will be required to reduce the chance of spread and contact tracing purposes in the worst case scenario of COVID entering OFRC and will also help keep costs low in a year of reduced capacity and increased costs. We’ve discussed this change with several other similarly structured family camps and we are not alone in this change. We know this is a significant change from how we have operated for many years and are working on creating sessions of varying lengths so that campers will have more options than if we had sessions of the same length all summer long. This is no easy task and we appreciate your understanding of the complexities of making such a significant change to our operational model.
• Since the pandemic began, and still currently as of today, the State of California has prohibited youth overnight camp programs from running. They have approved day camp programs under strict guidelines and limitations, but have not yet produced draft overnight camp guidance so that camps can know what the parameters for operating programs such as these might look like. We have and continue to work with the California Chapter of the American Camping Association to advocate for a release of draft guidance and an approval for youth overnight camp programs to run, which was done safely and successfully in many other states last year.
• We are planning on running our Annual Memorial Day Volunteer Work Weekend and Labor Day Weekend Camp.  
• Many of our program partners and rental groups have decided to hold off on returning to OFRC until summer 2022 when the camp experience will be more similar to their past OFRC summer programs. Because of this, we are currently working on finalizing our 2021 program calendar in light of these decisions of our long-time partners, some of which have only made this decision in the past couple of weeks.

2021 Program Dates

• As of right now, we are planning on beginning Family Camp programs on Sunday, June 13 and running until Sunday, July 25. It is possible that we will open up programming as early as Saturday, June 12, and run Family Camp programs until Saturday, July 31 or Sunday, August 1. If we are not able to run youth camp programs and our remaining program partners and rental groups decide to not return this summer, we may be able to offer Family Camp until Saturday, August 7. We are working hard to finalize session lengths and dates and will release them as soon as we are able.
• We anticipate that if we can run youth camp, it will be later in the summer, in late July or early August.
• We are currently planning on opening up registration for Family Camp at some point in March; Memorial Day Volunteer Work Weekend in April; and Labor Day Camp in May.

Changes to the Camp Experience

• With safety in mind, we will be limiting capacity of the number of campers on site at a given time. This is done in order to provide more opportunities for physical distancing and to ensure that we can accommodate people safely in our common areas (bathhouses, dining area, etc.). As we get closer to the summer, if the vaccine and testing environment is significantly different, we may consider increasing capacity by some measure, but only after consulting with public health authorities and it is determined safe to do so.  Because we will be opening up more available dates throughout the summer for Family Camp, we do not expect there to be a shortage of spots, even with reduced capacity.  We do anticipate some sessions to fill up faster than others however.
• The OFRC experience this coming summer will be significantly different than years past. The good news is that our primary indoor spaces (our dining hall and bathhouses) are extremely well ventilated due to their rustic nature. We will be moving as many services (office, camp store, and first aid) outside as much as possible and limiting the number of individuals inside the Dining Hall and bathhouses at any one time.
• At this time, we plan to use the full indoor space of the dining hall for serving food to campers and do not plan on having any indoor dining. In addition to our patio dining area, we are planning to open up a second dining area on the lawn to allow for physically-distant meals. Each dining area will have a shade structure, have tables spaced far from each other, and include partitions so that there is plenty of space while walking to and from your table. We are moving away from buffet food service to a cafeteria serving-line approach with partitions and proper barriers and will utilize both sides of the Chow Palace to allow for physical distancing. We will limit the number of folks inside the Dining Hall at any one time.
• We continue to explore programming options and our goal is to provide as close to a normal OFRC experience as possible. However we know that there are many programs and offerings that we have provided in the past that we will not be able to provide this summer. We are currently reviewing our programs to determine what can be done safely and will have more information when we share additional details about registration. Ideas include craft-packs that can be brought back to a family’s tent or cabin, nature activities that can be done as a household, and using our Activity field for physically distant programs (such as very-spaced out yoga or line dancing). After getting some additional information from local health authorities, we will also be working with our Guest Artists to see what elements of themed-week programming we can safely incorporate into our programs. 

Safety and COVID Protocols

• The safety of our campers, staff, and communities are of the highest priority. We are exploring every potential camper-staff, staff-staff, camper-camper interaction and every structure and piece of equipment on site to ensure that we have the proper protocols, policies, and procedures on site to keep everyone safe and mitigate risk. We will share more information about our camper, staff, and cleaning procedures when we post more information about registration. There will be requirements for mask wearing, physical distancing, and avoiding unsafe contact with other households.

Cost, Pricing, and Credits

• Throughout the Fall during our Year-End Fundraising Campaign, we shared that OFRC, like many businesses, faces a challenging formula – reduced revenue from capacity limitations and higher costs to operate due to enhanced staffing, facility retrofitting, and significant equipment/supplies purchases. We are working hard to keep costs low and operate as efficiently as possible.  However, it’s a challenging task and we’ll be inviting those who are able and interested to make a contribution to help us offset the increased costs and reduced revenue. 
• Moving to a session based model will mean our rates will be a flat per-person rate (by age group) instead of a per-person nightly rate. We are working on finalizing this new rate structure and will share them prior to opening up registration.
• In our commitment to our goal of making a OFRC experience available to all who desire one, we plan on having  a limited number of Camp Scholarships available for Summer 2021, funded generously by donors committed to this cause. Many of our campers elected to transfer their 2020 camp deposit to a credit for use this summer or in 2022. We will apply these credits to your family’s registration fees/balance at the appropriate time. More information to come. We understand that even with our enhanced safety policies, not all campers will feel comfortable returning to the OFRC this summer.  If you have a credit from 2020, you are of course welcome to utilize it when we open up registration for Summer 2022.