According to the most recent New York State COVID-19 guidelines, we are pleased to announce that all camps will return to normal operation. This includes: 

• No COVID-19 testing required 
• No self screening required before camp attendance
• No masking/social distancing required for vaccinated OR unvaccinated guests
• No contact tracing or testing
• Normal occupancy in buildings
• Normal food service operations

We would like to assure you that Word of Life will remain vigilant about sanitization and cleaning procedures on all our properties. As always, our culinary staff are ServSafe approved, and our state-of-the-art health center is available for all our guests’ needs. Word of Life’s Health and Security Coordinator is on-site 24/7 in order to assist our guests in any way possible.

Should you still desire to wear a mask or social distance while at camp, we fully respect and will do our best to accommodate your decision for the duration of your stay.

The Ranch, The Ridge, and The Island programs will all operate in 2021. However, we are going to be running all three programs at the Bible Institute property. While the Bible Institute typically only operates the Ranch and the Ridge camps and the Island has its own facility, we feel that the best path forward for 2021 is to leverage the Bible Institute property. This will also allow for major updates to The Island camp property. 

The Ranch program will continue to operate on a separate schedule from the older youth programs. While they may cross paths on the property; all of their meals, meetings, activities, and cabins will be unique to our elementary school aged campers.

The Island and the Ridge will leverage a blend of individualized and combined programming. Some activities that lend themselves to larger groups and are less age specific will take place together, such as our morning Bible Hour. However, we will still have separate cabins, evening rallies and breakouts, and many activities that are still operated specifically for each age group.

We will be making two major adjustments to our calendar for youth camp.

The first is for Summer 2021 only, we will be running seven weeks instead of our traditional eight-week program. The new start date for New York youth camps will be Sunday, June 27th. The last day of youth camps will be Friday, August 13th. The Bible Institute graduation will take place on Saturday, August 14th.

The other significant change is that we will switch to a five-day camp model, with camp beginning on Sunday afternoon and wrapping up on Friday mornings. This will better allow us to prepare for the next week of camp.

With the shortened camp week as well as the current economic conditions we want to make camp as accessible as we possibly can while still maintaining fiscal responsibility. Our 2021 rates for youth camp will be as follows:

Ranch: $279/Week for Overnight Camp, $229/Week for Day Camp

Ridge: $299/Week for Overnight Camp

Island: $299/Week for Overnight Camp

All youth camp deposits will be reduced to $50 per camper. Our normal cancellation policy will remain in place.

There will be no tiered pricing, early bird specials, late fees, etc. for 2021. This pricing will remain flat for the season, with no anticipated discounts offered (regular discount structure still in place for alumni, military, etc.) as long as space is available. Scholarships are still available for campers in need and can be applied for at camps.wol.org.

Juniors and seniors will be eligible for a special discount through Word of Life Bible Institute. Juniors will receive $50 off and seniors will receive $100 off their week of camp, just for filling out an application. Students will receive this coupon code via their admissions counselor once their application is completed. Students who have already applied can work with their admissions counselor to get the code applied to their week of camp.

We will start off with camp program capacities as listed below and then potentially adjust as registrations come in:

Island: 240
Ridge: 160
Ranch: 100
Total: 500

In order to create a situation that is as fair as possible for our Bible Institute students' summer ministry requirements as well as one that is feasible for our Camp Crew participants, we are going to split the summer staffing at the Pines into two teams.

Team One Bible Institute students will arrive on June 4th for training and Team One Camp Crew will arrive June 5th. They will serve for camp weeks 1 through 6 (June 13 through July 23).

Team Two Bible Institute students will arrive on July 16th for training (week 6 of camp) and Team Two Camp Crew will arrive July 17th. They will serve for camp weeks 7 through 11, as well as the Camp Closedown weekend (July 25-August 30).

We will make accommodations for Bible Institute students on Team One who wish to stay on through graduation on August 14th. We will also consider requests from Camp Crew members who would like to stay through the full summer.

Bible Institute students who are a part of Team Two will be able to walk at graduation and will receive their diplomas upon successful completion of their summer ministry requirements.

While we are disappointed not to be physically running camp at The Island this summer, we are confident that we can deliver the Island program with excellence at our Bible Institute facility. We feel confident that campers will thoroughly enjoy the updated meeting space, dining room and athletic facilities on the Bible Institute property.

We will be leveraging the down time on the Island this summer to complete several important infrastructure projects, most notably completing a renovation of the kitchen and dining facilities and rebuilding our mainland dock. Both projects are critical to ongoing operations and we fully intend to have a grand reopening of The Island in 2022!

We will be making two significant changes to The Pines’ calendar.

The first is to expand our weeks of operation. The Pines regularly operates close to capacity, and we want to be able to accommodate as many of our guests as possible to be able to return for 2021 after most were unable to join us for 2020. Our new Pines opening date will be Sunday, June 13th, and our new ending date will be Friday, August 27th. Week 10, August 16-20, will be shortened to a Monday-Friday schedule to accommodate the Bible Institute graduation on the preceding weekend.

The other significant change is that we will switch to a five-day camp model, with camp beginning on Sunday afternoon and wrapping up on Friday mornings. This will better allow us to prepare for the next week of camp.

Guests staying through for multiple weeks will be able to stay in their lodging through the weekend between their week-long stays. However, programming and meals over the weekend will be limited.

Guests staying at campsites and in their own RVs may extend by one day to a Saturday check-out, since no turnover is necessary. They will pay the additional nightly rate but will not be charged a program fee for the additional day. Very limited activities will be available--there will be no Bible Hour or youth/children’s programming, and meals will likely not be available.

Pricing for The Pines will remain frozen from our 2020 weekly rates and varies based on choice of accommodations and number of guests per site/cabin (the weekly rate will actually be slightly reduced, however, the corresponding daily rate will increase). Guests staying for multiple weeks will need to pay the additional nightly rate for their accommodations on the weekend between their week-long reservations, but no program fee will be added for the additional days. These details will be available at camps.wol.org.

Here is the updates Pines Pricing Sheet:

In accordance with the recently updated New York state guidelines, we will be lifting all COVID-19 restrictions at The Pines and Lakeside.

We would like to assure you that Word of Life will remain vigilant about sanitization and cleaning procedures on all our properties. As always, our culinary staff are ServSafe approved, and our state-of-the-art health center is available for all our guests’ needs. Word of Life’s Health and Security Coordinator is on-site 24/7 in order to assist our guests in any way possible.

Should you still desire to wear a mask or social distance while at camp, we fully respect and will do our best to accommodate your decision for the duration of your stay.

In order to create a situation that is as fair as possible for our Bible Institute students' summer ministry requirements as well as one that is feasible for our Camp Crew participants, we are going to split the summer staffing at the Pines into two teams.

Team One Bible Institute students will arrive on June 4th for training and Team One Camp Crew will arrive June 5th. They will serve for camp weeks 1 through 6 (June 13 through July 23).

Team Two Bible Institute students will arrive on July 16th for training (week 6 of camp) and Team Two Camp Crew will arrive July 17th. They will serve for camp weeks 7 through 11, as well as the Camp Closedown weekend (July 25-August 30).

We will make accommodations for Bible Institute students on Team One who wish to stay on through graduation on August 14th. We will also consider requests from Camp Crew members who would like to stay through the full summer.

Bible Institute students who are a part of Team Two will be able to walk at graduation and will receive their diplomas upon successful completion of their summer ministry requirements.