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Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Finally today, to save a summer camp. The YMCA of Greater New York announced on March 5th it was putting three of its upstate summer camps in Orange County up for sale, citing the need to cover revenue losses of up to a hundred billion dollars because of the pandemic. These summer camps have been in operation for more than a hundred years. Many former campers have expressed sadness and shock over this news because the three camps known as Greenkill, McAlester and Talcott, were known as being affordable summer getaways for many low income New York kids, meaning lots of children of color could get out of the city and have an experience they might not be able to get otherwise.
They're not just expressing sadness, they're on a campaign to save the summer camps. With me now to talk about what the sales could mean for low income New York children and how to avoid this and, listeners, how you can help, is Amina Kennedy, former camper and counselor with the YMCA of Greater New York, and now a member of the board of managers for all its camp, as well as a full-time teacher. Hi Amina, thanks for coming on the show. Welcome to WNYC.
Amina: Thank you so much for having me, Brian. I'm so excited to represent so many voices that are committed to keeping this wonderful camp open.
Brian: I saw it in the New York Times article on this from last week that in 2019, a year before the pandemic, 60% of the campers were from New York City and over 70% were children of color. How do you think the sales would impact those kids, or kids from those same communities, if they shut down?
Amina: Well, we know that when it comes to city kids, the lack of accessibility to outdoor space is really the problem. Especially during the summer, kids are just wandering around, trying to figure out what to do and camp has always been a resource for children to go upstate, see what it's like to be around trees, to swim in a lake, maybe even learn how to swim for the first time, meet people from different places, different backgrounds, different religions, sexual orientation. This camp is more than just this space for kids play, it actually is an equalizer.
It allows children to be on equal footing because they're all just there for the same purpose, and that's to have a great time. Especially coming after COVID and working at education, we know that our kids have really suffered during this time. The sense of isolation, they say that 38% of kids are having some form of depression. Not having this resource available to them, it's just something that we cannot stand for.
Brian: I see that YMCA officials estimate around 1,200 children from age seven to sixteen usually attend these camps each summer and roughly a third receive some form of financial aid. What's the status on the sale? Are the camps going to be gone or are you trying to save them in some way?
Amina: We're trying to do everything possible to save this camp. As a board member, we were informed on March 24th that the camp would be put up for sale on March 1st. We had about three business days notice that this was going to be happening. Over the course of 2020, we were actually spending our time revamping camp, reorganizing camp in order to make it a more profitable, dynamic while also maintaining our base mission, which is to provide access to outdoor experiences to all kids from every single sector. Once we got to the realization that the camp was pretty steadfast on their decision, that they stated that they made in about three weeks time, we went to work.
We organized our 1,300 alumni. In order to start getting access to resources, in order to find means to keep this camp open, we began a petition that has over 10,000 signatures. We began a GoFundMe, our goal is to reach $1 million and right now we're at 46,000. Then the media exposure that we've been able to acquire, especially with that New York Times article, started to give us a more national reach because we know there are so many people out there that understand the importance of camp, that have experienced it for themselves, but also understand how impactful having an experience like that can be for kids that would never get that opportunity in any other form.
Brian: What's the high bid so far on these properties and who are you going to be bidding against?
Amina: We don't necessarily have access to who's doing the bidding, but in that first week, it went on the market March 1st, they gave the board till March 5th to come up with a matching offer. The one offer they came in within 24 hours was 4.6 million, not very clear on who that was. Once they got to March 5th, they said, "Well, since there's so much interest, we're going to now extend the deadline to March 19th." With that extension, which is coming up this Friday, we are still actively pursuing investors or angel donors that can help us take the camp over in order for us to be able to run this camp for the next hundred years.
Brian: What are the finances of this? If you're crowdfunding operation, your GoFundMe is with a goal of a million dollars and you've only raised 46,000 that way, you must be looking elsewhere?
Amina: Yes. There's something to be said when good people get together with a common purpose to do good, because in the time that we've been getting this message out there and making it publicly known, the intentions of the AO, we have been able to make contact with many donors in addition to connections with people of influence that have shown a great deal of interest in helping us get this goal accomplished.
Brian: What happens at the summer camps? What are the activities that are core? I know different camps are different.
Amina: Well, what's great about our camp is that because we have three separate dynamics, we have two camps that only run during the summer and that's camp Talcott and camp McAlester. That's where the kids are going on hikes, learning how to swim, doing arts and crafts, learning archery. I went to camp for over 10 years and by the time I got to the end, I was a lifeguard and a certified archery instructor. There aren't too many little black girls in Brooklyn that can shoot a bow and arrow. Even picking up skills like that, just having the access to that was life-changing.
At Greenkill, which is our all season camp, we usually have that in order to do school programs for ecology and conservation and teaching kids about the importance of maintaining the earth. In addition to sports camps, like gymnastics, cheerleading, soccer, and we had a judo program that ran for, I believe, well over 60 years. When it comes to all the things that you can do at camp, there was something for everybody.
Brian: Are you critical of the Y organization itself? I realize you've worked for them in this capacity, but they say they're a hundred million dollars in the hole because of pandemic related losses and so they've got to do something. Are you saying, "Come on Y, you can do better than even put the camps up for sale," or is it not about that?
Amina: When it comes down to it, I'm a Y kid. I love the Y. All the board members were all Y kids and what I've been able to cultivate in my life started in the foundation of the YMCA. When they talk about a hundred million dollar loss, they're not technically a hundred million dollars in the hole, they're technically 80 million dollars in the hole. They had a hundred million dollars loss in revenue. The context of the language that's being used in order to justify the selling of this camp can be a little bit misleading. I don't ever want to say that YMCA is a terrible place, absolutely not.
I love the YMCA, but the reality is, if our motto is, "We're here for good," and they're making a decision to sell in a fire sale their one property that is different from every other property in the Greater New York area, without really giving it enough time and attention to allow it to grow into something that can be more impactful, it's disappointing. Collectively we could have be at the forefront of helping maintain the mental health of our students, of our kids in New York, in addition to giving kids of all socioeconomic levels an opportunity to get an experience.
Brian: In our last minute, how can our listeners help?
Amina: Well, there's lots of things that your listeners can do. They can definitely, if they have any resources, if they know anyone that would be interested or is committed to serving the community in a way where kids can be in a spot at a place where they feel a sense of compassion, support, and acceptance, they can email us at championsofnyycamp@gmail.com. In addition, they can also call us at 914-353-0057. If you know people of influence,, if you know there are people out there, good people that believe deeply in the power of service and believe deeply in what one experience can do for a child's life that can take them on a road that can have a better impact on the world at large, we want to hear from you. You are the people that we're looking for in order to get this goal achieved.
Brian: Maybe if they know the other potential buyers, they could get in touch and say, "Hey, come on. Now, do you really need this second home development? Do you really need to put a hotel there or whatever it is?" Shame them out of it a little bit.
Amina: Well, we are hoping that people getting the word out there might proliferate to the YMCA and maybe they might have a change of heart. We've already decided that regardless if they're with us, we're still going to get this done, even if they're not with us.
Brian: Amina Kennedy, a board of managers member for the YMCA of Greater New York camps. Thank you so much. Good luck with it.
Amina: Thank you so much, Brian, #savenycamp.
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