Summer 2020

Dear Camp Family,

We wanted to be in touch again to give you an update on the status of Camps Newfound and Owatonna’s summer programming. While the situation in the world this spring has been challenging, having the bedrock of “grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds” has been a very helpful support (S&H 4:3). While the current health situation changes frequently, we are continuing to prepare for our summer sessions. Our staffs are hired and we are ready to go. As we’ve mentioned in our previous emails, along with all our diligent prayers and metaphysical work, we plan to follow the state of Maine, Maine CDC and American Camp Association (ACA) requirements to make sure we are following their recommended best practices and running Camp safely. If anything with the following plan needs to change, we will notify you right away.

As we prepare for a great summer, we feel it is wise to shorten the summer to five weeks. This is aligned with the Governor’s requirement that Maine camps can open after July 1st. It will also give us time to be well prepared as events unfold and make sure that Camp is ready to open with a great plan in place for a fun-filled summer of love and spiritual growth. Our plan is to open for the summer on Sunday, July 5th and end on Saturday, August 8th. First session and both 2-week sessions would run Sunday, July 5th to Saturday, July 18th. Second session would run from Sunday, July 19th to Saturday, August 8th. There will be no separate 2-week session during second session. Full session and CIT programs would run for all five weeks. We have chosen this schedule because we feel it includes as many campers as possible who want to come to Camp and all tuitions will be adjusted accordingly.

With our plan to open July 5th, we would essentially quarantine everybody at Camp for the duration of their session. And what a perfect place to be with our 200-acre property, sports fields, beautiful lakefront, and many activities in the Maine open air. To proceed wisely, we are not planning to hold Parents’ Weekend, run off-site trips, or participate in games with other camps. We will need to limit outside visitors and only have deliveries for essential things such as food and supplies. Once we have received further details from the state of Maine, Maine CDC, and ACA we will send a follow-up email to all enrolled families with more specific information for the summer.

For anybody whose summer schedule doesn’t match up with our new dates, or whose plans have changed for this summer, we will offer a refund of your tuition payment or you can roll your tuition or deposit over to summer 2021. Please be in touch with us if your plans have changed at info@newfound-owatonna.com.

We also wanted to let you know, we are planning on running Family Camp and Creative Arts as scheduled. We will not be holding Memorial Day weekend clean-up.

Thank you very much for your prayers, patience, and support as we navigate the current situation and plan for the summer. Please know that we are doing due diligence in communicating with our board of trustees, other Maine camp directors as they prepare to open their camps, and other local professionals to make sure that we will put best practices into place for this, and every, summer. Please feel free to be in touch with any questions and we are looking forward to a great summer!

Warm Regards,

Seth

Seth Johnson
Executive Director
seth@newfound-owatonna.com

Metaphysical Theme for summer 2020

“What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love and good deeds." (S&H 4:3)