The NEW MBDC
Better Than Ever!

Dear MBDC Families,

For the past 23 years, Mill Basin Day Camp has strived to provide each and every one of our campers, their families, and the staff a place where they could be happy, do all sorts of amazing and wonderful things, and above all, know that they are safe.  That will never change.

However, as you also know, the world is changing.  There are a lot of unanswered questions we are all facing. We still don’t know what’s going to happen with schools in September or bussing and certainly not what the plans for camps are in NYC with local government. The choices we are asked to make are difficult without all the information needed to make decisions that are in the best interest of the people who are most important in our lives, and in this case, your children and our campers.

This summer, we made the choice to open camp solely based on being able to provide child care coverage to parents who needed it, quality activities for the campers who were home for many months in a row, and for our staff, who both want to and need to work.

We were able and allowed to operate by getting licensed and permitted by the NYC Department of Health by making changes to some of the programs and services we provided. Bus transportation service, out of camp trips, and lunch and snacks were not available and even sporting events became non-contact.  Group sizes were allowed for up to 15 campers, however, we kept our number at 10, to better follow the social distancing guidelines that we were given.  Every person that came into the building was screened prior to entering, there were no vendors allowed into the building and therefore no camp shows either.

A funny thing happened, however.  The campers are having an incredibly fun and amazing time THIS SUMMER despite all the restrictions.  “AWESOME” is the way the kids put it.

That brings us to the future of MBDC.

For the summer of 2021 MBDC will be an “All In” program.  That means that everything that happens at Mill Basin Day Camp will occur AT MBDC.

We are keeping the current model of the camp program with
no bus transportation or trips.

It is simply the better and safer way of ensuring your campers’ happiness and health by being able to control what goes on with our program, who comes into the building, and not having to rely on anyone except ourselves.

We realize that this might be an inconvenience but given current events and the uncertainty which we face regarding our world and the camp industry in general, this is the smartest decision we can make.

HOWEVER, it will only get better at MBDC. We will add as part of the program;

• Lunch & Snack for ALL Campers with a new and improved menu
• Camp Shows (Basketball Slam Dunk Show, Bicycle Stunt Show, Shark Tank Show, Hollywood Game Show to name a few)
• Events for Both Campers and Families
• Midnight Madness
• Specialty Camps (Soccer, Basketball, Art, Computer Coding, etc)
• New Activities; Kahoot!, ,Mad Science, Model Making & More!

OH, AND BY THE WAY, WE ARE LOWERING
CAMP FEES IN 2021!

One of the main reasons that the campers are having such an amazing experience this summer is because we have smaller groups with fewer children attending camp. This schedule allows them to participate in some of their favorite activities they enjoy several times a week as opposed to once.

We want to keep it that way. Therefore we are only going to be registering one-third of our numbers from years past. We will have a set amount of groups with a set amount of campers.  Once we fill a group or camp, we will NOT be adding to it. We will keep the groups smaller while retaining the same staff coverage and supervision.

Here is a sample schedule of what a calendar might look like in 2021:

Change is a good thing.  It allows things to grow and blossom into better versions of their previous selves.  MBDC is changing too and I sincerely believe we too continue to grow and learn for the betterment of everyone, especially our campers!

Sincerely, Jack Grosbard, Owner, MBDC