Hi Ali - My name is Travis Allison.

I’m a summer camp professional and consultant that has been working in the industry for almost 35 years.

I am the founder of the Covid-19 & Camp Slack workplace.

On February 25, 2020, I got a Facebook message from a former summer camp staffer of mine who told me that the novel Coronavirus was about to drastically change everything. 

That former staff member is Dr. Amy Greer--a Canada Research Chair in Population Disease Modelling and Associate Professor in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph. I trust her immensely. Especially when it comes to epidemiology.

It wasn’t until my conversation with Amy that it really became apparent that if we didn’t act now, COVID-19 was going to not just impact, but devastate the summer camp industry. My first instinct after hearing all this was to mobilize the camp industry and use the relationships and trust that I have built over the last decade with camp directors across North America to get them to start talking to their camp families about COVID19. 

The Facebook Group was not going to work.

We needed an organized space to share resources and to facilitate conversation about our pandemic response. We needed to mobilize the messaging and our people to be in touch with local health departments, politicians, and health professionals. As our industry saw waves of layoffs, we needed a space that was free to join. We needed a space that could bring the campiness to our workspace and allow us to share our best practices in the most efficient way possible. 

Since March 13th, we have been building and holding that space for summer camp professionals around the world on Slack. I have a team of almost 20 people who volunteer their time to moderate the community. Our users trust us.

We are so grateful for the ability to use the full functionality of the platform in these last 90 days for more integrations and most notably for capturing and retaining all of the generous sharing that has happened across the industry. 

As one member put it in a recent survey “Having all the information, and access to so many amazing people, in one organized space has been great. The simple highlighting of unread posts, but clearly and cleanly sorted by topic, makes it a great tool to see what's going on all over the continent, at a glance. The resources shared have been a lifesaver.  - Anonymous

Slack has allowed the summer camp industry to have a space for camp pros to connect, decide, and mobilize. As these folks adjust, cancel, and redesign programming for youth and families across the world, the impact of their decisions is vast. 

Because of Slack, we’ve been able to access knowledge from many different voices in our industry. From traditional overnight camps, to parks & recreation, day camps to school-year field trips. From folks serving children who have so little to camps that serve the top 1%--they are all represented in our Slack group. They all have an equal voice. We all can learn from one another. 

Now at almost 4,300 members and facing a June 29th end date to our free trial, we see a big challenge ahead. 

We cannot afford an $11,000+ per month fee to maintain this community. We, as an industry, also can’t afford to lose all the generous sharing of resources, support, and best practices that will fade as we cross the 10,000 message threshold. 

Today our ask is simple: Help us find a solution to keep this community open with access to the full archive of messages at least through the summer season.

The work these camp directors do is too important to take away the very support system that director after director has told us something like what was shared by Ruth C. Silver Lake Conference Center “By sharing and collaborating with other folks in the industry, we have been able to pool resources and ensure we are bringing the best information and content to our communities.”

Every child needs summer camp--and even though many children won’t be attending their camp in person as they have in the past, we have helped influence camps across the world to consider new models of youth programming, family camp, and community service. This will create spaces for families and youth to process the collective trauma of this pandemic and discover the healing that can occur outdoors, 

As these folks adjust, cancel, and redesign programming for youth and families across the world, the impact of their decisions is vast. Slack has allowed the summer camp industry to have a space for camp pros to connect, decide, and mobilize. 

And that’s been in a short 90 days. 

Imagine what we could do with another few months. Helping us keep this space open could single-handedly help save not only the summer camp industry but also the compassionate and dedicated directors who are working tirelessly to care for their families and continue to cultivate trust among their communities. 

Camp people look to me to find out what tech tools will make their lives as camp people easier. Slack is one of those tools, and our members are grateful they have discovered it.

In a recent survey of members of our workspace, 80% said they increased their usage and Slack or plan to use it with their staff or camp communities. This is an especially impressive statistic given that 82% said they were either only occasional users or had never used Slack prior to the pandemic.

I believe in your platform and right now, we need it more than ever. 

Will you please consider talking with me about how we can keep offering this service to an industry that needs you now more than ever?

I look forward to speaking with you.

~Travis

travis@gocamp.pro