The Sussex Family YMCA is partnering with the Indian River School District to provide summer camp services this summer.
The camp will be held at the vacant Millsboro Middle School. The building has been mostly unused since its students merged into Sussex Central Middle School last year.
Delaware YMCA Community Vice President LoriKay says this is an evolution of an ongoing partnership with the IRSD.
"We already serve the Indian River School District for our before and after school program, so we've been communicating and working together for several years, and that just flourished into this" she said.
This program serves children in grades K through 5, in addition to a teens program for grades 6-8.
Paden it’ll be one of the only places in the area providing childcare from 7am to 6pm.
“Still ironing out the details but we’ll start sometime in June and run through the summer. We’re not a half day camp; we’re a full day camp offering that for parents.” she said.
Paden adds there is a need for parents to find safe places for their children during the summer months and notes the YMCA’s camp is more than a daycare service.
“It’s not just a place to leave your kid; we’re outside playing, we’re doing reading, we’re doing crafts, we’re doing STEM projects, we’re taking field trips, we’re swimming.” she said.
Paden says they hope to serve at least 50 students to make the program feasible, with 150 being the capacity. She says ideally the program will hit that 150 figure by opening day in June.
"50 is where we would need to be in order to provide a solid camp experience with good interaction, we don't want a tiny makeshift program; we're going to come in, full YMCA, and give these kids a full-fledged experience" she said.
As of now, there's not exact figures as to how much the program will cost the YMCA to put on, something that Paden says it's not something they're considering a top priority, due to their status as a non-profit,
"Our goal would be to apply for licensure and be able to offer purchase of care through the state of Delaware, and then we have our financial assistance programming... which is fundraising we do as a group to fund scholarships through our county" she said.
Currently, YMCA officials say that the program will have one instructor per six students for the K-2 programming, and one instructor per eight students for grades 3-5.
The teen leadership program will be offering class sizes of around 10, said Paden.
“We’re very excited about this opportunity and we believe that the success in this county is going to be partnering and working together with each other, nonprofits, and the town. That’s where the magic happens, is when we can all come together and see the need.” she said.
The program is set to begin in June. Enrollment fees and scheduling are still in the works.
