2020 Michigan Out-of-Doors Youth Camp Summer Programs Cancelled

lschultz • May 8, 2020

Dear MUCC Community,

It is with a heavy heart that we have to inform you that Michigan United Conservation Clubs has decided to close the Michigan Out-of-Doors Youth Camp this summer. This decision did not come lightly and involved many sleepless nights of deliberation. Following national trends and monitoring the CDC guidelines the MUCC team and our Board of Directors believe this cancellation is the responsible thing to do for the health and safety of our staff and campers. We could not foresee a way that we would be able to safely socially distance in an overnight camp setting and still have an effective camp experience.

We will be offering full refunds for camper registration. For club sponsored campers, we will be working with club leadership to ensure they are aware of the situation and will return the sponsorship money to the club. MUCC staff is currently working from home with limited access to the office so refunds will take time to be processed. We appreciate your patience as we work to get refund checks in the mail as soon as we can. 

Traditionally all of our campers receive a subscription to TRACKS Magazine after their time at camp as part of their registration fee. If you are interested in signing your camper up for TRACKS magazine the cost is $20 for an eight-month TRACKS Subscription, which will begin in October.

If you are unfamiliar with TRACKS, it is an upper elementary magazine featuring Michigan-centered science concepts. Each TRACKS Magazine subscription includes eight full-color 16-page issues and runs during the school year from October through May. Every issue of TRACKS includes a poster, articles on a specific species of animal, “Tracks Facts,” and letters from young readers. Also, each issue includes a science lesson, which is designed for a classroom or as an at-home science activity. TRACKS Magazine includes articles about wildlife, habitat, ecology, energy and conservation.

We know many children were eagerly looking forward to a week down at Cedar Lake. While we cannot replace physically being at camp, we are working hard to create a “Camp-to-Go” program that we will be offering to families and any other interested people. The idea behind this is we are creating a resource of activities that you can do at home with your family. These activities will be similar to the activities that we do at camp. These activities will follow our outdoor recreation and environmental education curriculum and contain unique ways for your camper and family to enjoy the outdoors this summer. 

We are currently developing these educational resources and hope to have these packets to interested families by mid-June. These packets will be available for families to purchase. However, we know that each family is in a different financial situation, and because of that, we are not putting a standard price on our “Camp-to-Go” packets. Rather we are asking for donations to help cover the fixed costs of camp. We will have more information on the Camp-to-Go” program later this month.

If you would like to register for TRACKS you can sign up online here:https://michiganunitedconservationclubs.z2systems.com/np/clients/michiganunitedconservationclubs/membershipJoin.jsp

If you would like more information on Camp-to-Go please reach out to Camp Director Max Bass.

Thank you for your understanding and your support of our program.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask, Max can be reached at mbass@mucc.org. 

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