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Summer camps are preparing for a busy season

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Posted at 5:38 PM, Jun 17, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-17 17:42:09-04

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Summer camps across Western New York are coming back in full swing.

"We think that girls need summer camp more than they ever have before," Alison Wilcox, chief executive officer for Girl Scouts of Western New York, said.

"Here they can just be themselves and have fun and create memories together," Caitlyn Bailey, camp director of Camp Good Days, said.

"I think we all have very bad cabin fever and we want to just get outside and start socializing again," Scott Kapperman, principal at St. Amelia's School, said.

Camp leaders say enrollment and interest has increased.

"We thought families would be nervous and hesitant, but families have been jumping at the bit to get their children signed up for camp," Bailey said.

"Our enrollment cap is about 130 students and we have 130 students enrolled in the camp. We have about a dozen students on our waiting list," Kapperman said.

"We've had a huge amount of interest. Before we even knew what camp was like parents were signing their daughters up," Wilcox said.

Some summer camps like St. Amelia's will nearly be completely back to normal.

"Masks are not necessary when outside. We're anticipating that masks hopefully won't be necessary inside," Kapperman said.

The Girl Scouts summer camp will operate at 50% capacity.

"At this point we would not have the staffing to all of a sudden increase that capacity, so we're going to continue at the capacity planned even if we're allowed to have more people just to make sure we have the proper supervision," Wilcox said.

Camp Good Days will require masks indoors and outdoors for family camp in addition to a negative COVID test or proof of vaccine to attend because their camp is exclusively for families who have been impacted by cancer.

"All of our families are immunocompromised. We have a ton of brand new families, most of them are in active treatment so they are still high at risk including the children," Bailey said.

But no matter what the safety precautions are, camps are excited for what's ahead.

"They get that childhood back that's been taken away from them," Bailey said.