You may not know that registration can strike fear into the hears of camp administrators everywhere. There are lots of little details that need to be changed - medical forms double-checked, prices updated and camp session dates confirmed… so many things can go wrong. At Beacon over the last few years, we’ve even had a beautiful problem: some of our camp sessions fill so quickly that in less than 12 hours, we also have to deal with the dreaded phone call or email letting people know that they are on a waitlist.

Of course, we love having people come to camp in the summer - it’s so much of what camp is all about. However, in the doldrums of January, registration is the first step towards a summer that feels very, very far away.

Not this year.

We are so, so excited for registration this year. I will be honest: more than one of the year-round staff has admitted to joyful tears over the idea of campers at Beacon once again (full disclosure: I, Kodiak, am one of them!). Suzie “Bickle” Rofaiel is very excited to sit at her desk in the camp office (pictured above) and greet everyone!

There are changes to the way that registration will work this year, and we want you to know about them, so we’re putting them all here in this blog post so that you can have a one-stop shop for what’s going on. Read more below!

COVID-19 Protocols

As of today, the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) has not yet released finalized summer camp regulations. While we have some information, it is incomplete, and we don’t want to release changes every few weeks, which can be confusing. Because of the lack of information, we are transparently sharing with you that we don’t have all the answers. We are carefully watching the situation and will update all registered families and this web page when we have more details. We want to be clear that our goal is to provide safe, fun and Christ-centred camp programming this summer. To do this, Beacon Bible Camp will pursue the regulations and guidelines set forward by the province of Ontario and the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit.

We do know that it will be likely that campers will have to wear masks in some settings, and there will be distancing required in some settings as well.

Cancellation/Refund Policy Changes

For all summer camp sessions this year, we require a 25% non-refundable deposit during the registration process. As the summer get closer, the percentage that is refundable goes up until 2 weeks before the camp session, when no session fees are refunded.

We know that COVID-19 has created uncertainty for how camps will operate. If your family or camper needs to cancel your registration because of a COVID-19 connected reason, we will offer a full refund to you. If Beacon needs to change or cancel a camp session because of COVID-19, we will also offer a full refund to you.

If you are cancelling for a reason unconnected to COVID-19, the regular cancellation/refund policy will apply.

Payment Schedules

In a normal year, we allow for the set-up of monthly payment plans for families to pay for their camp fees. This year, with the uncertainty about everything, we are accepting our normal 25% deposit on the day you register, but holding off on any additional payments until June 1, 2021. At that time, we will accept the rest of the payments. We hope this works for most families, but if it’s a problem, simply reach out to us in the camp office - we want to make camp fees something that works for you!

Camp Session Limits

As we’ve mentioned several times before, we are not fully clear on all the protocols about camp this summer. Part of this is not knowing if the province will place capacity restrictions on our camp sessions. We have over 175 beds at Beacon, and I wish we could fill every single one on Monday. In light of the fact that we don’t know, we’re keeping camp session capacities lower than usually, so that we don’t have to cancel on campers at a later date. (Listen: we had to cancel on an entire 2020 summer’s worth of campers last year: that’s something we NEVER want to do again.)

If you’re on the wait list earlier than expected, don’t despair. We will be working hard to get as many people to camp as possible.

That’s what we’ve got for you right now - we can’t wait for registration to open on Monday! Stay tuned for more updates, and we’ll see you at camp soon enough!