Since 1984, the Send A Kid To Camp™ program of Triangle Community Foundation has provided a safe, educational, healthy outlet for our community’s children at-risk through summer camp scholarships.

In 2020, we intended to continue doing just that. However, COVID-19 meant that organizations were not able to hold in-person camps, or had to do so with significant restrictions. Our 2020 camp partners told us of amazing innovations and true commitment to serving the children in our community—but they also told us that their campers were sad, missing teachers and friends, and disappointed that their summer experience couldn’t happen as it normally would.

We don’t know what will happen for summer 2021, but we do know that the children we traditionally serve through this program have urgent needs now. Studies are suggesting that learning loss in reading will be upward of 30 percent, while math will have grown to 50 percent due to the pandemic and changes in educational opportunities over last spring and summer. In addition to growing learning loss, children are facing food insecurity, mental health concerns, and trouble accessing technology.

For fall 2020, we are combining our traditional Send A Kid To Camp program and its focus on learning loss with our new Education & Youth Grant, to address the needs we see emerging due to COVID-19. We remain as committed as ever to ensuring that all the children in our community have the opportunity to thrive.