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By Chantal Wagner

United Way $30K donation to offset summer day camp costs

Apr 13, 2021 | 5:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Families who access licensed summer day camps will have an affordable option when school is out.

The Medicine Hat YMCA has been awarded $30,000 dollars from the United Way of South Eastern Alberta to help offset day camp costs.

YMCA CEO Sharon Hayward says they will be able to provide camp at $100 per week, which is about 50 percent savings for families.

Seven week-long day camps are planned from early July to late August.

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Hayward says there are not a lot of options for care for school-aged children during the summer.

“The benefit of these being licensed childcare day camps is that they’re allowed to run right now within the current restrictions. If it’s a non-licensed day camp, as restrictions stand right now, they can’t operate. So we feel like these will probably be quite full because there’s a good chance they might be one of the few that can operate within the public health restrictions.”

Hayward says they are confirming day camp sites right now and the goal is to run them at three different locations. If they are able to do that, they will have a total of 84 spots per week and 588 experiences this summer

Each location can have up to 28 kids from kindergarten to grade 6.

Hayward says day camps use national a YMCA curriculum and certified childcare educators.

Programs operate Monday to Friday (excluding stats) from 7:30 am- 5:30 pm.

July 5-9: STEM Week

July 12-16: LEGO

July 19-23: Harry Potter

July 26-30: Team Building

August 3-6: Monster Mash

August 9-13: School Aged Scientists

August 16-20: Tie-Dye & Splash