The solar is barely above the treeline as Chris Shea welcomes about 80 youngsters to a summer time camp organized by the YMCA of Auburn-Lewiston on a latest weekday morning, his voice bellowing by the timber.
Every day, the campers scatter throughout 93 acres of woods and fields, with sufficient area for the entire traditional summer time camp actions, from archery to swimming.
Shea says it’s a invaluable expertise for lots of youngsters — a approach to get them open air and socializing with new associates, one thing particularly vital after years of distant and hybrid education.
However whilst he seems to be out at dozens of smiling faces, Shea mentioned this summer time’s camp can typically really feel empty.
“It’s nearly like, half the numbers you need to see in entrance of you, as you give bulletins. So it’s a bit of discouraging and disappointing,” he mentioned. “However I assume it’s what it’s, and also you do the very best you possibly can with what you’ve acquired.”
The YMCA of Auburn-Lewiston anticipated round 120 youngsters this summer time. However Shea mentioned that the group wound up limiting capability to about 80 campers.
That’s as a result of summer time camps throughout the state are coping with a scarcity of counselors, as a good labor market leads many younger folks to different jobs, decreasing the scant amount of kid care for folks throughout the state.
“Little one care, and camp, it’s not a straightforward job, proper? You’re caring for youngsters all day lengthy, and all of their wants,” mentioned Meagan Hamblett, the manager director of the YMCA Alliance of Northern New England.
Hamblett mentioned that many younger individuals are choosing different jobs that will pay $15 or $20 an hour elsewhere.’
“If you happen to can go and you will get a job at a Hannaford, or a neighborhood landscaper, and receives a commission the identical amount of cash, we’re seeing folks going and doing these issues, reasonably than coming to the normal youngster care and summer time camp,” she mentioned.
Camps additionally say additionally they depend on lecturers to function counselors throughout their day without work in the summertime. However this yr, fewer are signing up, burnt out from years of hybrid and distant studying.
Add it up, and the scarcity of staff has pressured a number of day camps — from YMCAs to nonprofits and native recreation departments — to chop again on capability or cancel packages altogether, in some instances resulting in lengthy waitlists. Hamblett mentioned that it’s a priority at a time when reasonably priced youngster care is already tough to seek out in lots of elements of the state.
“Again within the day when one dad or mum labored and the opposite dad or mum was at dwelling, summer time camp was type of a luxurious, proper? You despatched your youngster for a few weeks, or a specialty camp right here or there,” she mentioned. “A lot of the households in our YMCA camp packages are sending their youngsters for the entire summer time. As a result of it’s their youngster care.”
The state of affairs has left mother and father scrambling for alternate options. In Ellsworth, dad or mum Rita Boutaugh discovered herself caught off-guard earlier this yr, when her daughter’s day camp was cancelled as a result of it was unable to seek out sufficient counselors.
“It was a sickening feeling, understanding that my youngster wasn’t going to have youngster take care of the following few months, for summer time,” she mentioned.
Boutaugh tried holding an indication outdoors the native grocery retailer, promoting for the open camp counselor positions. However it didn’t work.
She managed to discover a couple different camps for her daughter to attend for a number of weeks, and her mother and father have steadily helped out, too. However on many days, Boutaugh works in a single day shifts on the native Shaw’s grocery retailer so she will be able to take care of her daughter.
“Like tonight, I’ll should go in and work in a single day,” she mentioned. “However tomorrow, we’ll spend the day collectively. So we’re all simply compromising, and simply making an attempt to make the very best of it.”
Summer season camps haven’t discovered any simple options, both. Many mentioned they’ve elevated pay considerably, however that hasn’t led to many extra functions.
Ron Corridor, the manager director of the nonprofit Maine Summer season Camps, mentioned that in a single day camps have managed to make up for the scarcity by bringing in international staff on J-1 visas to fill positions. However he mentioned that few day camps have pursued that technique.
On the YMCA day camp in Auburn, Shea mentioned that he had simply spoken with a grandmother who hoped for her grandchildren to attend the camp. However he says he needed to flip her down, which is tough when so few different youngster care choices exist.
“So it’s a bit of irritating. The grandmother I talked to this morning understood,” Shea mentioned. “The youngsters that we now have out right here, they’re loving it. They’re having a good time at camp. I simply want extra may make the most of it.”
With the labor market nonetheless tight, some camps say they’re planning to begin recruiting subsequent summer time’s counselors far earlier, in hopes that the extra time will assist them discover sufficient employees by the beginning of camp subsequent yr.
This story seems by a media partnership with Maine Public.
