Hi Jacobs Camp family! On Thursday, February 4th, the Jacobs Camp Parent Advisory Council had our inaugural meeting! It was so exciting to get this council up and running. Because EVERY parent is a part of the Parent Advisory Council, I wanted to provide all of you with a quick recap and share plans for the next meeting.

Anna joined us for a quick hello to start the meeting and then signed off – PAC is a parents-only space, after all! After a couple brief introductions of key parents in participation, Leah Hart Tennen, Jacobs Camp Community Care Director and Gary Lazarus, Jacobs Camp Committee Chair, and a review of the PAC’s general purpose, we got down to business. Our primary item on the agenda was to brainstorm questions and concerns surrounding Covid-19 safety measures and protocols, as they relate to Summer 2021, that Anna could address at the Town Hall webinar the following week. Some of the items brought up in our meeting were questions about testing protocols, how masks will be used at camp, concerns about taking care of the staff to ensure they have a meaningful camp experience, opening day procedures, how camp will utilize pods/bubbles, how to help campers, especially new and young campers, prepare for camp, and more. If you were not able to attend the Town Hall live, I hope you were able to watch the recording of it. Personally, I found it to be quite informative and helpful in wrapping my mind around what to expect.

Anna and her leadership team are doing a phenomenal job preparing for this upcoming summer and all the challenges it brings. Our perspective as parents puts us in a unique position to help. Across the region and beyond, Jacobs Camp families’ experiences with school, non-pharmaceutical interventions (i.e. masks, social distancing, pods/bubbles), and everyday life with our children through this pandemic can provide valuable insight to help Jacobs Camp prepare for Summer 2021. Jacobs Camp leadership is working with a variety of organizations for guidance and doing everything they can when it comes to preparations, plans, and protocols to keep our campers safe while having a meaningful and magical summer. As you can imagine, it is an incredible effort. That is where the PAC comes in to play. The ideas and questions the PAC can share with camp leadership will help ensure every detail, big and small, is covered. In this situation, it is best for all of us to not assume camp leadership has everything on their list. I will be compiling all suggestions and questions to send on to Anna and camp leadership.

This call for help is just the first of many ways I see the PAC making a difference at Jacobs Camp, and I hope you will join our effort!  I am so thankful for the parents who participated in our first meeting and I hope many more of you will consider logging in for our next meeting, which is slated for mid-April. In the meantime, if you would like to be added to the PAC email list to receive meeting updates in your inbox, please send me an email at hydeekagan@gmail.com. If you do not want to be on the email list, but you have something you would like to share, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!