COVID-19 UPDATE
May 22, 2020
Dear Parents & Guardians,
We would like to thank everyone for their patience during these uncertain times. We have been anxiously following the developments of COVID-19 in our province (and around the world) and needless to say these past two months have been a real emotional roller coaster!
As we inch closer to the summer it has become apparent that it's not going to be possible for us to run our program within the recommended safety guidelines. Physical distancing at camp is simply not feasible for the type of activities we do. It's been a very difficult decision, but we’re not comfortable putting our students and staff at risk by running an in-person camp this year. We are hopeful that things will be different next summer.
Moving ahead with Plan B!
We have been working tirelessly this past month to come up with a plan for an at-home version of our camp programming geared towards our 7-14 age group. Unfortunately we don’t have enough time before the summer to also produce a kit for our Mini Makers (but that will be in the works later this year).
We have curated a kit, which we are calling the Maker Toolbox Essentials. This kit will provide an entire week of programming with two new projects per day, plus our traditional week-long project to boot!
Our goal with this kit is to provide everything you need in one box. Tools, materials, original how-to video tutorials and educational content will be paired with an activity book to help guide our students through their projects.
While the intention is to have students work through the projects on their own (without needing help from parents), we recognize that everyone will have their own experience levels, and it is possible that our younger students (7-9 years) may benefit from having access to a helping hand now and then.
Once we have more information ready to share about the projects in particular, we’ll leave it up to you to decide if the kit is a good fit for your child. The beauty of an at-home kit is that there is no time pressure, and students can work at their own pace.
This is a brand new venture for us, and we are quite excited about all the new ideas we are developing with our Mindful Makers team. We hope you’ll give it a try.
So what are the next steps?
We are committed to producing 300 kits at this time with the goal of having them ready for curbside pickup by mid July. Anyone who has signed up for summer camp will be eligible for the first run of kits.
If you’d like to wait a little longer for more information that is okay too! We’ll be releasing another update as soon as possible with more details about what’s inside the box!
The kit is being produced to equal the same value as a full week at camp.
If you’ve registered for a full week we can do a straight exchange.
If you’ve signed up for a short week (4 days) we’ll follow up about any outstanding fees.
If you’ve signed up for multiple weeks please fill out our refund form.
Our multi-child summer discount will still be honored (that is for 3 children in the same household).
Refunds
We will be refunding camp registrations for anyone who would like to pursue that option.
Extended care and registrations for our Mini Makers (ages 4-6) sessions will be refunded.
We’d like to thank you in advance for your patience as we work through processing all the refunds. Once issued they take 5-10 business days to show up on your statement.
We understand that the news of camp being cancelled will be disheartening to many of our campers, especially those who are graduating from our program this year. We feel your pain and are right there with you. Creating Mindful Makers has been an epic journey, full of highs and lows. This is just our next big challenge, and we’re facing it with the spirit of innovation and exploring new possibilities. We hope you’ll continue on in sharing the journey with us.
Be well,
Agnes Niewiadomski
Camp Director