Petition to Leadership: Please Share the News With Campers Before They Leave
As parents, we are grateful for the extraordinary community that Mark, Brian, and the rest of the Iroquois Springs leadership team have built for our children. Iroquois Springs has been more than a summer program; it has been a place of trust, belonging, friendship, and growth.
Because it now appears that Iroquois Springs will not be operating next summer in the form our children know and love, we respectfully ask leadership to share that news with the campers before they leave camp this Friday, in a thoughtful, age-appropriate, and unified way.
We make this request out of care for the children. Child grief research and guidance consistently show that children cope better when trusted adults give them honest information, allow them to express feelings openly, and provide a safe environment in which they can process difficult news together. Supportive relationships matter, and children often benefit from processing painful transitions with the adults and peers who know them best.
Many campers are already hearing rumors, especially among older campers. If the news is not shared before departure, children may learn it piecemeal, from one another, while they are tired, emotional, and separated from the people best able to support them. That would make an already painful transition harder. By contrast, a shared announcement before they leave would give the campers a chance to hear the news together, ask questions, grieve together, comfort one another, and say goodbye with honesty and closure.
We are not asking for a perfect answer or a full set of future plans. We are asking for a compassionate, direct conversation that honors what this camp has meant to our children. If this is indeed the end of an era for Iroquois Springs, then the children who helped make this community should be told with dignity, together, before they go home.
Thank you for everything you have given our children, and thank you for considering this request in the same spirit of care that has always defined Iroquois Springs.
8 Comments
I cannot continue to send my kids to a camp without assurance that it will be going strong 10 years from now. I want my kids to grow up with their camp friends, build strong and lasting friendships. I will not be enrolling either boys next summer due to all this uncertainty. The emails from the camp did not address the obvious matters at hand and left everything up in the air with zero timeline.
Bc the camp experience is important
So sad that this is happening, the end of an era for so many campers! Shame Shame on those who choose to sell out!
It’s important for us to know what the short term plans are for Iroquois Speings Camp. Thank you!
Drastic change like this won’t be healthy for the kids and traditions
My feelings are completely aligned with the author of this petition. I do not know this individual but share her sentiments and have been wrestling with how best the children should be made aware of the camps future. Thank you.
This has been my daughters’ home for nearly 5 years. We all deserve closure and transparency.
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Petition to Leadership: Please Share the News With Campers Before They Leave
As parents, we are grateful for the extraordinary community that Mark, Brian, and the rest of the Iroquois Springs leadership team have built for our children. Iroquois Springs has been more than a summer program; it has been a place of trust, belonging, friendship, and growth.
Because it now appears that Iroquois Springs will not be operating next summer in the form our children know and love, we respectfully ask leadership to share that news with the campers before they leave camp this Friday, in a thoughtful, age-appropriate, and unified way.
We make this request out of care for the children. Child grief research and guidance consistently show that children cope better when trusted adults give them honest information, allow them to express feelings openly, and provide a safe environment in which they can process difficult news together. Supportive relationships matter, and children often benefit from processing painful transitions with the adults and peers who know them best.
Many campers are already hearing rumors, especially among older campers. If the news is not shared before departure, children may learn it piecemeal, from one another, while they are tired, emotional, and separated from the people best able to support them. That would make an already painful transition harder. By contrast, a shared announcement before they leave would give the campers a chance to hear the news together, ask questions, grieve together, comfort one another, and say goodbye with honesty and closure.
We are not asking for a perfect answer or a full set of future plans. We are asking for a compassionate, direct conversation that honors what this camp has meant to our children. If this is indeed the end of an era for Iroquois Springs, then the children who helped make this community should be told with dignity, together, before they go home.
Thank you for everything you have given our children, and thank you for considering this request in the same spirit of care that has always defined Iroquois Springs.
8 Comments
This is very upsetting for everyone, but especially for the kids who are leaving camp believing they’ll be back next summer. There really should be age appropriate conversations to help them understand what’s happening, rather than simply saying “goodbye, see you next summer.” As it stands, it feels incredibly unfair and potentially harmful for them to process.
I cannot continue to send my kids to a camp without assurance that it will be going strong 10 years from now. I want my kids to grow up with their camp friends, build strong and lasting friendships. I will not be enrolling either boys next summer due to all this uncertainty. The emails from the camp did not address the obvious matters at hand and left everything up in the air with zero timeline.
Bc the camp experience is important
So sad that this is happening, the end of an era for so many campers! Shame Shame on those who choose to sell out!
It’s important for us to know what the short term plans are for Iroquois Speings Camp. Thank you!
Drastic change like this won’t be healthy for the kids and traditions
My feelings are completely aligned with the author of this petition. I do not know this individual but share her sentiments and have been wrestling with how best the children should be made aware of the camps future. Thank you.
This has been my daughters’ home for nearly 5 years. We all deserve closure and transparency.
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This is very upsetting for everyone, but especially for the kids who are leaving camp believing they’ll be back next summer. There really should be age appropriate conversations to help them understand what’s happening, rather than simply saying “goodbye, see you next summer.” As it stands, it feels incredibly unfair and potentially harmful for them to process.