MOULTRIE, Ga. — The staff at the Boys and Girls Club of Moultrie-Colquitt County haven’t seen their kids in a regular capacity since March 13. Through a virtual summer camp, the staff hopes to work out the kinks to bring back a sense of normalcy once school starts back.

Virtual Summer Camp Survivor Edition is entering its final week. Its run, which began on July 13, ends on July 31. BGC CEO Joseph Matchett IV said COVID-19 made this program ever important.

Essentially, the goal behind it was to continue the family engagement lost during the pandemic.

“This COVID thing has affected kids emotionally just for the simple fact that their routine of seeing friends everyday, seeing family everyday, has been totally changed,” Matchett said.

With that change occurring, the platform had to change too. Zoom video conferencing has allied the BGC’s team of staff and instructors to meet with their kids in a safe setting.

 Camp coordinator Alisha Roberts said nothing’s changed about the curriculum used in the summer camp though. It’s all based on the BGC mission “to enable all young people, especially those that need us most, to reach their full potential as responsible, productive, caring citizens.”

Roberts and her fellow coordinator, Lateegra Fiveash, came up with programs leaning on topics of bullying, smart moves, financial management (for teenagers) and healthy lifestyle choices — similar if not the same to some programs held before the pandemic.

Knowing that this is also a summer camp, Roberts said they wove in more recreational aspects like STEM, art, foreign languages and even dance styles like hula dancing. The next step was figuring out the timing.

The virtual summer camp officially runs from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., starting with educational links, but live sessions begin at 5 p.m. This was the average availability given from surveyed parents.

 “As a committee, we decided how to break them up into groups and generate a schedule,” Roberts said. “Based on the schedule, we created a Zoom meeting in a Google Doc that was not password protected, so that the kids have access to it.”

This gave the kids — and parents — an easy login and a host of activities to access and be a part of. The camp did not see a change in programs addressing its core values, but it did in its recreational programming.

“We just changed the STEM activities or had a game night or like one night, Ms. Fiveash did an activity where they made smores,” Roberts said.

 A lot of the activities come from the feedback received from the kids and their parents via regular phone calls. 

The BGC even added some instructors from its Enrichment program, a program held back when the club and the schools were open, to add to the normalcy and consistency kids had back then.

“It’s an ever-changing model to ensure that we’re meeting the needs of the families as best as we can,” Matchett said. 

Roberts said the consensus she’s heard about the camp has been positive. The same goes for Fiveash who also said the instructors are enjoying it too.

A factor going into that is that the kids are able to see their instructors as they go through activities.

“We’re able to share our screen with them, and let them join in, answer questions and ask questions,” Fiveash said.

That happens Monday through Thursday. Friday is a different set up.

“Fridays are a little bit different because we have games and it’s not always somebody standing there. We share our screens and we play the game,” Fiveash said. “When we end the videos, there is somebody there talking to them making sure that they come back next week and that they have the supplies for next week.”

However, should they not have supplies, parents or guardians are welcome to pick up whatever supplies are needed from the BGC’s location at 420 West Central Avenue.

The BGC’s summer camp has been serving just about the same number of kids it does every summer. Only difference is, the virtual camp is open to even those without a BGC membership.

Anyone can join in.

“It’s really up to them to come on,” Fiveash said. “We don’t always have the same numbers every day. Sometimes we have 10, sometimes we have less than that. It just really depends on them coming on.”

They’re definitely not seeing the same numbers as they would in a physical camp though. That comes with its own set of issues.  

“It depends on reminding them,” Fiveash said. “If you’re constantly reminding the parents and constantly calling and texting to say, ‘Hey, come on. Don’t forget,’ I feel like it’ll be more [participants].” 

On top of that, the BGC is still providing up to 3,600 meals a day, Monday-Friday, and will continue to do so until Friday, Aug. 14.

This effort is the BGC’s first at doing a virtual summer camp, but not its first virtual program. Its after-school program performed virtually shortly after school closed on March 13. It’s being planned to open back up just two weeks after school starts.

Matchett said they want to see how school will run beforehand to gauge COVID-19’s effects on the fall semester.

“Even if they don’t stay in school as long as expected, we can still pick up with our program,” he said.