MATTAPOISETT — The YMCA’s Camp Massasoit has offered some summer relief from coronavirus stay at home measures, giving kids the chance to safely do archery, start a garden and swim in a pool.

YMCA Director Stephanie Winterson said that kids are “just so happy to be out of the house and see their friends.” 

They have also really appreciated some of the camp’s activities. Some of the 9 to 12-year-old boys loved the chance to help adults build gardens that will remain as a permanent feature.

Camp offers helpful training for campers in social distancing and mask-wearing. Parents of campers must make a daily attestation that their children are healthy, and Winterson said there is also a “lot more cleaning and being aware of the space.” 

The camp also cannot have any visitors or volunteers. Fortunately all efforts have paid off, and there have been no reported cases of coronavirus so far. 

Kids are now split into groups, with 10 kids each group. The overall numbers at the camp have also dropped drastically, and it has 140 participants instead of 300 or 350 participants. 

Besides the pandemic, one thing that hit the program particularly hard was eliminating all of its specialty camps. Last year, Camp Massasoit offered Camp Chefs, a cheer camp, Leader or  Counselor in Training programs, a drama camp, a fishing camp, a golf camp, sessions on movie making and ocean kayak sailing, a pottery camp, a science-themed camp, sports camp and a spy camp, among others. Now, it only offers a traditional camp, which provides a wide variety of activities without specializing in any one area. 

“It was tough. A lot of parents didn’t come back this summer” without the specialty camps, Winterson said. 

The activities that are left even in a non-specialized day camp are somewhat limited as well. The pool, for example, is sectioned off into squares with chains and pool noodles, giving campers an idea how much space they have to swim and keeping them away from their neighbors.