Submitted Article
Due to concerns about COVID-19 and the risks it poses to the safety of campers and their families, United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania (UNC) has canceled its annual Camp Kelly for 2020. The summer camp hosts around 400 children each year. With children staying overnight together in cabins and other activities involving close proximity, the decision to cancel was made with the campers’ health and well-being as the top priority.
“Above all, it’s our job to keep our campers safe,” said Kelly Langan, UNC’s director of children and teens. “We teach camper safety as the most important responsibility of a counselor, and we remind each other every day. With that in mind, we saw no other option than to close Camp Kelly for the season. It’s an unfortunate but necessary action to ensure our campers’ safety. We look forward to returning in 2021 with a newfound energy and sense of purpose.”
Camp Kelly plans to offer several virtual events this summer for campers to connect with each other remotely. More information about virtual events will be available in the coming weeks on UNC’s website, www.uncnepa.org, as well as on UNC’s Camp Kelly Facebook page; Instagram page, @campkelly.unc; and on Tik Tok, @campkelly.unc. For more information, please contact UNC’s Children’s Program Services Manager Alexis Featherman at (570) 344-9882 or at afeatherman@uncnepa.org.
About United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania
United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania (UNC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to assessing and meeting the needs of low-income families, youth, senior citizens, and new immigrants in Northeastern Pennsylvania. For the past 97 years, the agency has embraced its mission to work together with neighbors to provide services and create opportunities which empower individuals and build strong interdependent communities. The agency accomplishes this mission through six programmatic departments (Community Services, Children and Teens, Older Adult Programs, Community Education, Community Revitalization, and Community Health) and a Housing/Community Development Corporation. Through this diverse programming, UNC uses an innovative wrap-around approach to address the emerging needs of the community it serves.