Walker County will have its own North Georgia YMCA Summer Camp this year at the old Fairview School building starting Monday, June 6.
Normally the Y welcomes both Catoosa and Walker county campers to one location at Fort Oglethorpe United Methodist Church. This year, both counties will have their own camps. Fort O UMC will continue to host Catoosa County campers this summer starting May 31.
The Fairview Y Camp runs nine weeks, through July 29.
"We hope to meet the needs of the community," said North Georgia YMCA Executive Director John Donahoo. "Maybe on their way to work, parents can drop off their kids at camp in Fairview. With the Y and all that we train our staff to do, we can make it a fun environment. We can bring them out here on the bus. It's a nice collaboration with the school system to do outreach."
Swimming for both camps is at Arlene Crye Municipal Swimming Pool of Fort Oglethorpe four days a week, he said. The pool is in Gilbert-Stephenson Park.
"I think it will be a nice setup and I hope the community responds to it well," Donahoo said, referring to the new camp at Fairview. "Camp is recreational, fun and educational. We will have a summer reading program through the Northwest Georgia United Way. We will have online reading resources at camp to access, or from home through a password, to keep kids on grade level. They answer questions and their skills are recorded."
Both camps will have theme weeks, he said, naming a few as science and art.
He expects 40 campers at the Fairview camp. They will go on field trips and swimming in the afternoons. In the mornings, campers will do the Catch Program, based on kids being active in a fun way.
"We will have the ability to feed kids a summer meal," said Donahoo, adding that kids don't have to be enrolled in camp to get a meal. "We intend to serve it at 11:30 a.m. for lunch. Kids can come at no charge for the meals. It's open to anyone in the community. It will be Monday through Friday every day except July 4th at Fairview and Fort Oglethorpe."
The lunch program will also be hosted at the Cherokee Regional Library System libraries in Chickamauga, LaFayette and Rossville. All total, about 15 sites in Catoosa and Walker counties will serve the free lunch meal.
"We depend on our staff team and the community and parents to invest in camp," said Donahoo. "We want to make sure we have resources to make the camp go on all summer. Many people make it happen, from community donors and volunteers."
To learn more about the Y camp, the free meals or how to help the Y, contact the Y at 706-935-2226.