To the R.M. Pyles Boys Camp Family,
The Staff and Board of R.M. Pyles Boys Camp have made the difficult decision to cancel our youth development programs located at the camp for the summer of 2020 due to concerns surrounding the Coronavirus. This was a heartbreaking decision to make, but one that is necessary. We will be back stronger than ever in 2021!
There are a few major factors at play:
California state and local regulations do not allow us to operate as our program is not deemed an “essential” service, and we do not have a date in sight of when these regulations may be lifted.
Camp is built on being close together, socially, physically, and emotionally.
Holding large group gatherings goes against all guidance from authoritative sources including the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the California Governor’s Executive Order surrounding Social Distancing.
The current challenges we face are beyond our control.
When we make challenging decisions such as this, it’s important to look back at our mission statement:
R.M. Pyles Boys Camp promotes long-term positive behavioral change for low-income, disadvantaged boys by providing a multi-year wilderness camp experience supplemented by year-round mentoring that builds life skills and instills the values of hard work, education, and positive choices.
In the interest of public health, we simply cannot provide our summer wilderness camp experience. What we can do, however, is increase our efforts to provide “year-round mentoring that builds life skills and instills the values of hard work, education, and positive choices.” We will do this. Our team is currently developing a plan that will give more ongoing support to our current program participants than they’ve ever received.
We will look to the future with a sense of hope and optimism, knowing that in the very near future there will be a group of campers stepping off the bus in the Sequoia National Monument for the very first time. To those boys, we say thank you for your patience and we cannot wait to have you join the Pyles family in 2021.
In the words of Robert M. Pyles, we will spend our next few months supporting “…the poor and needy, the underprivileged children, whose bodies are undernourished, whose thoughts are clouded by fear, whose hearts are heavy from lack of love and understanding—- to find and rebuild them into healthier and happier generations of Americans, firmly endowed with the ideals and principles of our freedom loving country.”
Sincerely,
The R.M. Pyles Boys Camp Staff and Board of Directors
Adam Bell
Executive Director
Jeff Wilson
President, Board of Directors