Summer is usually a busy, bustling time at Columbus’s Foundation For Youth, with kids around every corner, swimmers and athletes constantly on the move and campers arriving for a school break adventure.
This summer, however, is looking a bit different due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have, you know, eight or 12 different populations that we try to serve,” said FFY Executive Director Chuck Kime. “And because of the COVID virus, we’re really beginning and focusing on our boys and girls club and our summer day camps, which we refer to as ‘Summer of Exploration.”
On June 4, FFY drafted a tentative reopening plan for the summer. Kime emphasized that the plan is tentative and subject to change. As of this month, the facility’s youth camp and club are open with pre-registration required, dropoff temperature and symptoms check, masks required for staff, youth separated into pods of 10 individuals and administrators inside the facility as needed.
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Beginning next week, youth will be separated into pods of 15 to 20 individuals, with staff required to wear asks, except when outdoors. Pools and gyms partially will open with pre-registration required for members, exposure and symptom self-monitoring, limited capacity in swim lanes, pickleball and volleyball open to reserved groups and clinics opened to reserved groups.
Beginning in July:
July 6: The day camp and clubs will practice exposure and symptom self-monitoring. The programs can share bathrooms and spaces with continued social distancing.
July 6: Pre-registration and scheduling are required in gyms. There are increased swim times for mornings and evenings along with Club Swim (with cleaning guidelines between groups).
Aug. 3: FFY opens fully. Individuals will be monitored for exposure and symptoms. Groups may enter the building as before. Administration returns with remote work encouraged. Social distancing continues.
Kime said the club opened on May 11 to “serve in an emergency child care-type capacity” so that essential workers could have someone to watch their kids while they worked.
Major changes to the day camp and club programs have been fewer participants and increased health protocols, he said.
While the Boys and Girls Club usually sees 200 students at FFY after school, the new maximum capacity is 40 children.
As of this month, there are about 37 kids at the club, and the Summer of Exploration day camp had about 30 participants.
“We would expect that in the coming weeks, those numbers will go to, possibly, as high as 60 each,” Kime said. “So instead of a summer camp of 350 students, we will be serving somewhere around 120 as our max capacity.”
While groups are being kept at 10 individuals now, the tentative plan is to increase the size of groups to as many as 20 by next week.
“On any other summer, there would be lots of big group activities, and every child is interacting with every other child,” he said. “As it stands now, we’re doing our best to keep our kids in pods of limited numbers with the same staff every day. So that while a child may interact with nine of their peers and two or four of our staff, that would be the extent.”
As for health protocols, children and staff members have their temperatures checked upon arrival and departure. They will also be checked for symptoms. All staff members will wear masks. Parents are not allowed to enter the building.
Other measures include “limited group sizes, limited interaction between groups, restroom separation of groups, increased cleaning protocols, increased personal hygiene (more handwashing and sanitizing for all).”
Kime also noted that staff have been working to come up with activities for the children that involve less touch and contact than their usual games and activities.
These protocols will likely be relaxed as the state moves through the governor’s reopening plan, Kime said.
One part of FFY’s program that has stayed strong throughout the coronavirus is Big Brothers Big Sisters. “Bigs” and “Littles” who have continued to meet, although in a virtual setting.
“For ‘Littles’ to be able to still meet with their ‘Bigs’ has been a huge opportunity to help with eLearning,” Kime said.
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FFY also provides virtual programs on its website, www.foundationforyouth.com, for kids who may not be able to visit in person this summer. Virtual programs for the Boys and Girls Club can be found at https://www.foundationforyouth.com/bgcvirtual.
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