Bruce Grey Child and Family Services is grateful to the Community Foundation Grey Bruce for their support of our summer outreach to vulnerable families.

In light of the closure of overnight camps and the limited availability of day camps, our usual practices are not possible. Normally, our organization helps vulnerable community families get through a long hot summer by supporting camping opportunities for children and youth. Kids get to have fun and parents get a much needed break.

In this summer of pandemic, BGCFS is offering children and youth the chance to participate in Camp Covid in a Box.

Kids will receive a camp box that contains art supplies, craft activities, non-perishable camp treats, sports ideas, a camp t shirt and a mask. The boxes will be geared to different ages and interests. We will also offer kids the chance to join other camp participants on a digital platform to do crafts together or participate in a nature walk or join a camp fire sing along.

We have four summer students, Tianna, Lauren, MacKenzie and Kassidy who are creating the ideas for the boxes, sourcing the materials, filling the boxes, delivering the boxes and then connecting with campers digitally. Our students have many years of camp leadership experience and enough ideas to fill a thousand boxes and many thoughts about how to take a camping experience to a digital platform.

All of the contents of the boxes have been sourced by our local community.
We are grateful for the generosity of local businesses who have also contributed to this effort by providing discounts and donations. The spirit of giving is strong in the Counties of Bruce and Grey.

We have invited our Community Partners to help identify families, children and youth who need this support. We appreciate our Community Partners for their ongoing support of parents and we hope to serve 375 children and youth.

We are grateful for the efforts of all parents in our community through this trying time. They have been home caring for kids for four months and there is no end in sight. It takes a lot of patience and tenacity to care for children without a break. The continuous demands of parenting can take a toll on peoples’ mental health. Many families in our community struggle with other serious challenges – children with special needs, poverty, food insecurity, mental health and addiction problems and housing instability, etc. Our goal is to support parents to be safe and effective parents and for kids to have the best summer possible. We hope that everyone will get through this pandemic safely and successfully.

source: media release, Bruce Grey Child and Family Services