TRAFALGAR, Ind. (WTHR) - Camp Allendale typically hosts up to 400 children a week between June and mid-August, with all the usual outdoor activities that make church camp a great summer getaway and spiritual retreat.
But COVID-19 put the campfires out on March 15 at the Trafalgar campground in southern Johnson County, and already canceled the first three weeks of summer camp.
"Some camps in Indiana, in other states, they've already canceled their entire summer,” said Camp Allendale Executive Director Randy Pim. “We really want to have camp, and so we're doing our best to kind of hang on to every week as they come, looking at the guidelines we're getting from the governor as well as the CDC, trying to see if we can't make camp happen in some fashion for at least part of our summer."
Each week camp is canceled is a loss of about $90,000. Camp Allendale expects no more than half of its usual number of campers this summer and has taken out a loan to partially offset an anticipated loss of at least $250,000, which represents a quarter of the annual budget. The camp plans to reopen June 21, but is taking a week-by-week approach.
"It's just going to be difficult to operate a camp where we're so interactive,” said Pim. “One of our main core values is to provide a safe, fun, and interactive environment. Under the guidelines that we're living with right now, it's going to be very challenging."
Those guidelines would require 50 percent capacity in the cabins, with one bunk empty and alternating top and bottom. Campers would sleep with their head on alternating opposite ends of the bed. People would need to spread out in the normally packed dining hall. Everyone would undergo two temperature checks daily.
“We feel like that we can handle the safety ramifications,” said Pim. “We can't 100 percent guarantee that something's not going to happen, just like we can't guarantee that a child's not going to get a splinter or twist an ankle on a on a hiking trail. But again, we really desire to have that opportunity.”
Pim and his wife have worked at Christian camps for 32 years.
"We live for kids being on this property with us,” said Pim. “So yeah, it's been very, very discouraging as we think through it. At the same time, we see that kids have been cooped up at home. So, we know that an outdoor experience like Camp Allendale would really be what kids need right now."
Highland Lakes Camp in Martinsville is the only Southern Baptist camp in Indiana. All residential summer camps there were canceled in late April. The United Methodist Church has condensed its camp schedule and consolidated all activities to three campgrounds starting June 28.