CYO to Go!

The world is a different place now, this we know. Our daily lives have been changed, some work from home, some have been laid off, and we all wear these wonderful new accessories on our faces. With all the change, it was only natural that we, as a camp, had to change as well. Camp Rancho Framasa is not unique in this, as it is something that has affected the entire camping industry. The number of groups that are visiting camp on-site is only a small fraction of what we would normally be seeing. We needed to find a new way to survive until this craziness has normalized a little.

What has camp done?
That is a great question! The short answer is when the going got tough, we got busy.

The longer answer is…
In looking at how the school year was going to take shape, we needed to get a pulse on our groups and what they would and would not be able to do. We learned the most difficult piece for our schools and groups was transportation. It seemed almost universal that schools were either advised not to take field trips, or their travel requirements were so strict that it made it infeasible to take the trip. We thought, if they cannot come to us, we can go to them.

This was the beginning of our new programming option “CYO to Go.”

For deacades Camp Rancho Framasa has been programming for and hosting school groups onsite. We also have solid experience leading retreats off site. Rethinking how we could do more programming away from camp became our focus. We dove into our curriculum and created a new way of doing things in new settings all while keeping the foundation and integrity of our programming alive.

It was a bit tricky at first but after weeks of discussion, work, dissecting, adding, replacing and creating new topics and lesson plans, we had a functional curriculum that had the ability to bring some of the best parts of camp right to our schools, churches and other various groups .

“CYO to Go” is broken down into the following four parts.

• Science Education which consists of a few different topics like Animal Adaptations, Geology and Astronomy.
• Leadership and Community Development which is basically exactly what it says. Specifically, we worked hard to create fun COVID compliant games and activities that still challenged groups to help build leadership and community.
• Faith Programming which consists of many different activities that help build, teach, and lift up our faith. We also have specific retreats for Confirmation, First Holy Communion, and First Reconciliation.
• Camp Craft where we can bring all our guests favorite crafts from camp right to them.

"CYO to Go" has been a huge blessing to many of our groups who thought they would not be able to have a camp experience this year! It has been exciting to offer this good news as groups contact us with the news that they will not be able to attend camp this year. I hope and pray that we can continue to bring the joy, exhilaration, and fun that so many find at camp to them at a time when they thought they would not be able to have that experience.

If you are reading this and think this sounds like a great idea for your students, groups, or parish, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. We would love to bring all the amazing things camp has to offer directly to you!

 Tom Gattuso
Program Director