Pine Island Leaders of Tomorrow Program launches at-home summer camp
Paul and Nichole Pichon have put together an at-home summer camp for Pilot kids in second through fifth grades in
lieu of their traditional weeklong summer camp.
“We basically put together a week’s worth of activities for the kids,” said Nichole. “We bought all the supplies and packaged everything they would need.”
The boxed kits purchased for, and then delivered to, the children contain enough supplies for two activities per day of camp along with instructions for each activity. Nichole explained that the intention is that the kids partake of one indoor and one outdoor activity each day of the week-long (5-day) camp. There are currently 20 children enrolled in the program, which began Monday, June 22.
From creating their own action figures, to making homemade ice cream, the Pichons’ desire is to keep the kids connected to their program and to one another as everyone continue to wade their way through the uncharted waters of social distancing. The boxes were donated by the Fudge Factory as well as the bags containing supplies.
“I’m really excited about being able to do this for them in their homes,” said Paul. “I think it would be good to offer this in the future, in addition to regular summer camp, so that when we have the older kids at camp, the younger siblings won’t feel left out.”
After having done the summer camp for the past seven years, the Pichons’ said they welcomed the opportunity to employ some new ideas. Nichole added that being able to buy everything online and in bulk definitely made the transition to an at-home camp easier. The goal was to give the kids everything they needed without them having to wonder how they might accomplish the activities or search their homes for supplies.
“Since so many of our kids have older siblings that have already done these things with us, we were able to recommend the older siblings help, in the letter we sent home to the parents,” said Paul.
Nichole says almost their entire incoming group now consists of second siblings to the Pilot Program, adding that there wasn’t even a need to get recommendations since interest in the program has become so widespread. Since the First United Methodist Church, where Pilot generally takes place, remains closed for activities due to COVID-19, discussion is still under way regarding what the future of the program will look like in the event that the schools reopen before the church that houses Pilot does.
“The fall is still up in the air,” said Nichole, “because we have to consider our older volunteers. We’ve come up with alternatives to be able to operate in case the church isn’t reopened. There are ways that we can still work the program.”
Once in the fall, if the only option for the Pilot kids is virtual learning, Nichole said they’ve already come up with ideas about how to work through it in a way that’s ultimately best for the kids.
“At this time we are uncertain what the fall is going to look like,” said Nichole, “but Pilot will be operating in one fashion or another.”