KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Sports Commission's annual Camp WIN sessions scheduled for this summer are now up in the air due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The four-day summer camp, held three times each summer, introduces girls ages 6-12 to 14 different sports — but it also offers much more.
"Leadership, teamwork and teaching you to have resilience and grit. We theme each day of camp around that curriculum and use those theme words everyday," said Win for KC director Jessica Blubaugh.
For now, organizers are working to determine whether any part of the camp can be held virtually.
"We are trying to assess what parts of the camp work virtually and what parts don’t translate in that way," Blubaugh said.
One local organization that will take its summer camp virtual in 2020 is Camp KyMel, designed for children with cancer and their siblings.
"We decided to try to capture that spirit of camp and give it to kids in their homes," said Dr. Bryan Wohlwend, KyMel's president.
Wohlwend has a vision centered on video learning.
"Our camp cooks will teach them how to make their favorite camp meals," Wohlwend said. "We’ll do photography contests and arts and crafts; we’ll mail them boxes of supplies."
Other camps, including Camp Wood YMCA, are conducting surveys for how to provide summer experiences that are valuable to youth.
"What that does for them developmentally and maturity-wise and experiences they can build on for the rest of their lives," Blubaugh said.
"It’s not uncommon for us to hear camp changed their life. We have heard kids say camp saved their life," Wohlwend said.
Those summer memories, while modified, remain on the horizon.
