As the employee shortage continues nationwide, summer child care programs can be added to the list of affected groups.
The Grand Traverse Bay YMCA summer camps have always been a popular summer program for kids.
This year the demand has not changed, but the number of applicants to be camp counselors has dropped.
Thomas Graber, senior program and operations director for the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA, said with 190 kids signed up per week, he’s struggling to find enough employees.
“That is our number one struggle right now," Grager said. "We've significantly increased pay, we've increased flexibility of hours. We've increased bonuses. It's a struggle, but I think that's, you know, not just as it relates to camp. I think that's pretty universal right now.”
Graber said with camps starting on June 22 they still have __-percent of positions to fill.
Mount Pleasant’s PEAK program has seen an increase in registrations for their summer programs.
PEAK coordinator May LaChance said the program has had to change its operating structure to adhere to COVID-19 protocols.
“Starting in July, we are going to go on some local field trips," LaChance said. "And we are doing that because the places we go, it's just open to our group, too. So we are going to do that starting in July, but we weren't planning on it.”
LaChance said as protocols continue to change they will continue to adapt their program.
Last year, the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA held summer day camps, but they were run much differently than those in previous years.
Graber said before COVID-19 there was more group bounding and stronger relationships between staff and campers.
“There will be some aspect of that this year, we're going to try to bring back as much traditional camp as we can, but there will still be restrictions as it as it, you know, you know, goes with all camp activities and shared equipment and all of that, but I would say it's going to be somewhere in between the traditional year and last summer.”
Graber said the staff will do everything they can to give campers as traditional an experience as possible, while still adhering to the changing COVID-19 protocols.