Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer

As the weather gets warmer and summer draws near, the YMCA of Chilton County is gearing up for their annual summer camp for children in the community. The YMCA will host the 2023 camp from June 5-Aug. 4, and will be closed on July 4. Camp each day will run from 6:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. The fee is $125 per week for members, and $150 per week for non-members. There is also a daily rate of $40 per day available as well. Children aged kindergarten through sixth grade are eligible to sign up.

“I think about what a great need we feel for working parents,” Michelle Perrin, office manager at the YMCA of Chilton County, said. “We are here for them … It is a great service we provide.”

The YMCA also offers scholarships to families who may need assistance paying a portion of the camp fees.

“It is not a free scholarship, but it is based on income,” Perrin said. “I think it is a great thing when we can help those families out.”

Breakfast, lunch and a snack will be served each day of camp, and the YMCA takes the campers swimming each day. The summer camp has multiple field trips planned as well including roller skating, going to the movies, a trip to the zoo and Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham and activities with the Chilton County 4-H Program through the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

“I am excited to go on the field trips,” Kaylee Jones, program manager at the YMCA of Chilton County, said. “A lot of the kids like the movies, and they love the skating field trip, too.”

The YMCA is expecting a large turnout this year, and is encouraging those interested in summer camp to apply soon.

Along with the summer camp, the YMCA of Chilton County is offering other camps over the summer including a basketball camp from June 7-9, soccer camps on June 12-16 and July 24-28, a tennis camp from June 12-14, a baton camp from June 20-22, a volleyball camp from June 28-30 and a gymnastics camp from July 11-13.

Impact Martial Arts is hosting camps throughout the summer months as well — June 5-9, June 19-23, July 10-14 and July 17-21. More information for all of the summer camps the YMCA is offering can be picked up at the YMCA of Chilton County at 405 Ollie Avenue in Clanton.