Cool camp

By John Howell
Posted 7/28/16

Summer camp wouldn't be complete without water. And so it is at the Boys and Girls Club of Warwick camp at the Masonic Youth Center overlooking Greenwich Bay off Long Street. There's lots of water. The grounds have a swimming pool, not to

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Cool camp

Posted

Summer camp wouldn’t be complete without water.

And so it is at the Boys and Girls Club of Warwick camp at the Masonic Youth Center overlooking Greenwich Bay off Long Street. There’s lots of water. The grounds have a swimming pool, not to mention the backdrop of the bay.

But campers don’t need to be in bathing suits to have some water fun.

“Drip, drip, splash” – a version of “duck, duck, goose” – is a favorite with younger campers, especially on hot summer day. Players run around a circle of their peers carrying a saturated sponge and calling out drip-drip as they pass behind them. A squeeze of the sponge leaves a reminder of their passing until they arrive at the camper who gets “the splash” and they must race around the circle and fill that spot without being tagged.

That’s one of many activities that fill the day and keep the camp and its 200 campers in near perpetual motion. Over the course of the summer, the camp will see about 315 unduplicated campers. About 30 counselors – they’re the ones with blue T-shirts – and another 20 counselors-in-training oversee operations.

The camp has proven so popular that there’s a running waiting list of 30 for most weeks before the camp closes on Aug. 26. The weekly cost is $125 per week per child, and children must enroll as members for a $30 annual fee.

“We are able to keep camp prices low due to the generosity of our donors who understand the importance of children having a safe, fun, supervised place to spend their summer vacation,” said Eleanor Acton,

development director for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Warwick.

“It’s a great camp. If I were a kid I would want to go there, too,” she said.

After a pause, she added, “I don’t need to be a kid; I’d go.”

(Warwick Beacon photos by John Howell)

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