In a typical September, we send camp families dates and rates for the coming summer, announce registration is open, cheer for campers who commit to returning, and embrace new campers who sign up for the first time. Sadly, this year is not a normal year, and as much as we wish we could, we cannot open registration on this same timeline. Fear not, though – we will open registration in the months ahead!

Right now, we are taking time to better understand how other camps operated this summer (with and without COVID-19 cases); how schools, colleges, and universities navigate this situation; and if an effective vaccine will be widely available by the 2021 camp season. While we gather this information, we are delaying the start of our typical enrollment period and will share our plan for the upcoming summer season in early 2021.

We are deeply committed to offering high quality, safe programs that give campers and participants the opportunity to connect with their own best selves, to engage in meaningful friendships, and to practice making a positive difference in their communities. This has been the mission of the American Youth Foundation for 95 years, and we will not allow a pandemic to halt it, just as we did not allow the Great Depression or World War II to stop it either. The current moment demands adaptation, reflection, and careful planning to bring our powerful community together again, but rest assured, we will be together again.

As we plan for 2021, we invite you to stay engaged with the AYF community online through monthly moments of connection. Join us on Zoom every first Friday of the month for an Evening Reflection, or if you’re after more raucous fun, check our Night’s Doings on Zoom every third Friday of the month! Sign up for the monthly Founder Sparks email newsletter and follow Miniwanca, Merrowvista, and the American Youth Foundation on Facebook for links to these events each month.

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Summer 2020 will undoubtedly be different than years past, but president Anna Kay Vorsteg shared that the AYF community has already exceeded her expectations. 

“This pandemic has issued a very real test of our values and priorities, and we passed,” Anna Kay said. “We collectively passed so beautifully.”   

In April, Anna Kay made the difficult announcement that summer 2020 could not proceed as planned due to the coronavirus pandemic, but even she was not prepared for the deluge of goodwill from the wider Founder Friends community.  

“It’s so emotional for me, and I was aware that we were sending out news to thousands who shared that same emotion,” Anna Kay said. “Historically, when I’ve sent hard news of a much smaller scale, I’ve received some mad or sad reactions. I expected some negativity. I was bracing for it. But the night the announcement went out, my phone lit up with texts and calls of support and a willingness to help.”  

That outpouring of kindness was just the beginning. The AYF was flooded with messages of understanding and a desire to best support the organization during this unprecedented time.   

“Everyone recognized our shared loss. There’s something special about that. They understand that this isn’t a business relationship. It’s so much more than that,” Anna Kay said. “I’m so touched by the messages that showed they cared not just for the fiscal state that we were in, but the emotional state, as well.”  

Shortly after the announcement, the AYF hosted virtual Town Halls for parents, campers and seasonal staff to help process the news. 

“The people who blew me away were some of the campers I spoke with who’ve worked toward these culminating experiences for years. This is their Voyageur year or their Odyssey year.” Anna Kay said. “I’m sure a part of them is so deeply upset, but the fact that they could keep that disappointment from coming at us is remarkable. The maturity required for that is so impressive.”   

Anna Kay said her focus has now shifted to the broader world and how campers, summer staff, and National Leadership Conference attendees can support their own communities.  

“This is an invitation to be our best and apply it in a sincere way at a needy time,” Anna Kay said. “For example, instead of coming to the AYF this summer, maybe we challenge our teenagers to bring the AYF into a household that desperately needs childcare, when it is safe to do so. They could bring routine and schedule to a family and introduce the AYF mission. Imagine 1,000 households with AYF enkindled spirits as their childcare this summer.”   

As AYF transitions to virtual summer programming, Anna Kay encouraged all Founder Friends to lean on each other and reach out for support during what will a difficult summer for many.   

“In times of trouble and times of challenge, just like all those trips we lead, part of why we can accomplish those remarkable things is we are doing it with others,” she said. “We won’t let the physical distances between us keep us from community this summer.” 

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Over the past month, you have adjusted to changes and experienced the loss of many beloved aspects of your lives. You’ve heeded the call for distancing and made sacrifices to help your families and communities to weather this storm. Our communities, our nation, and our world are being changed daily by this coronavirus pandemic, and so too are the program possibilities for the AYF in 2020.

I write to share a difficult but clear decision – we will not be able to gather for residential programs at Miniwanca or Merrowvista this summer. That includes summer camp and Miniwanca and Merrowvista, the National Leadership Conference, Summer Seminars for Women, and Alumni and Family Camp. In truth, it is not a decision, but a blinding recognition. Along with national leaders in outdoor programming, we are announcing that we need to make a major change of course this season. In this time of physical distance, we will offer only free online programming to connect our community until we can safely gather in person.

Our AYF directors and Board members have been working for the past month to consider every barrier and issue before us as we prepared for Miniwanca and Merrowvista camps and the National Leadership Conference. After exploring medical practices and protocols, licensing regulations, accreditation standards, staffing requirements, and program promises, this team came to the conclusion that we will not have the staff, health screenings, resources or expertise necessary to conduct safe programs in the traditional NLC, in-camp and Four Trails formats.

We know this change comes as yet another disappointment among so many you have had to endure this spring. As staff, we share your deep sadness; we know what this means in the lives of all who have been looking forward to a summer experience at both Merrowvista and Miniwanca.

As we navigate this unprecedented time, we are keenly aware that many of our families are feeling financial strain and uncertainty. Please know we will provide full refunds of all fees paid in hopes of offering some relief. Our staff will email the families next week to initiate the refund process and to offer several options for a timely return of their deposits or apply their payments toward a place in summer 2021.

This news certainly will bring up questions for you and especially the participants and campers you are connected to. We do not have all the answers right now, but we will do all we can to support our communities through this transition.  The future of our summer camps will be more flexible, offering the possibility for more choices among program offerings. Campers enrolled in programs such as Voyageur or Odyssey will have options in 2021 like participating in the trip that was missed in 2020 or enrolling in another program. Participants in the National Leadership Conference will be able to continue through their program progression as they would have during the 2020 National Leadership Conference.

While the AYF is taking a different path this summer, we are still on mission and in motion, and we fully intend to be for another 100 years. Thanks to the generosity of our donors through the decades, our nonprofit is supported by an endowment that will help us navigate through this storm and stay vibrant and buoyant as we reach our centennial in 2025.

As we have often said in our AYF communities, “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.” Let’s lean on one another, offering the shelter of connection and understanding as we strive to live at our best during these uncertain times. We will look for you in new ways, gathering on the Cyber Sand Dunes and in the Virtual Valley, our online hubs for connection and virtual programs. Trust that when we can gather safely on the sand dunes of Miniwanca and the hillsides of Merrowvista, we will. I look very forward to seeing you there.

Until then, let’s do all we can to ensure our own health and the health of others. Let us bring our best to this needy world. And let us all…

Aspire Nobly, Adventure Daringly, and Serve Humbly

Anna Kay Vorsteg
AYF President

Andy Mulcahy
AYF Director of Operations

Liz Marshall
AYF Director of Advancement

Matt Loper
AYF Director of Programs

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Read An Important Update from AYF President Anna Kay Vorsteg

For the latest answers to your Frequently Asked Questions, please click here (updated Wednesday, April 15, 2020)

Over the past week, we have heard from so many of you, and I am both surprised and buoyed by the repeated theme that so many are sharing. At a time when we, in the American Youth Foundation, are concerned for the well-being of all of you: our students, campers, staff, and alumni, YOU are writing to express concerns for the health of our organization. These expressions of care and concern are perhaps the most flattering form of balance I have witnessed in recent times. Thank you.

I want to reassure all in our larger community that we are doing relatively well, not unscathed, but standing tall. Because of the generosity of so many of you and those who have gone before us, we are fortunate to have endowment funds to keep our work, our mission, up and running.

We regret having to cancel many of our spring programs and our largest scholarship-raising event, the Donald Danforth, Jr. Golf Tournament. What we don’t regret is the opportunity before us to increase our online presence while simultaneously planning for the exciting program seasons ahead.

And while you’re at home, we are reaching out to help you stay connected with us. We heard the call for spaces to build community, reconnect with balance, and put to use the tools learned at Miniwanca and Merrowvista. You are invited to join our virtual hub, AYF Founder Friends, located on the Slack platform, where we’re forming dedicated channels for alumni and friends to post messages and join live conversations. On our website, you can find new blog entries, the first written by AYF parent Gretchen Clayton, sharing her story from home with her campers.

The AYF has weathered many a challenge in her 95 years. I have complete faith that we will weather the extremes of this pandemic. Will it be easy? No. Will we need to flex, let go and support each other in new ways? Yes. Nothing less than our best will be called for.

For now, take comfort as I do, that we are blessed to be a part of a legacy organization. The good and generous actions of those “upriver” keep us afloat today. When the waters calm, may we look to do all we can for those “downriver.” For now, worry not about the AYF, but please do us an important favor, take good smart care of yourself, and those around you.

Ever Grateful,
Anna Kay

Anna Kay Vorsteg
AYF President

Posted on March 14, 2020

Please know our thoughts are with you all as we navigate the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 health crisis and all it is stirring up in our home communities. You are very much on our minds and we imagine soon the reverse will be true, you will be thinking about this coming program season.

We want you to know that we, in the AYF, are monitoring events closely and working hard to determine the best path forward for all of our programs. In the face of so much uncertainty, our goal is to address as we can, concerns you may carry about program offerings and operations at Miniwanca and Merrowvista this spring and summer.

We remain steady in our commitment to offer only safe, mission supporting programs. And while we do not yet know all of the ways the current health crisis will require us to adapt our practices and planning, we pledge to keep you informed of any changes.

As of this week, we have made the following policy shifts in an effort to provide immediate support to our families in uncertain times:

• The final payment date for 2020 tuition has been extended to May 1st
• If your child is unable to attend for any reason and you share this with us on or before May 1st you will receive a full refund or can opt to roll payments and registrations forward towards a 2021 program offering.

We want to assure you that until May 1st you will receive a full refund of all tuition and fees paid if, for any reason, your child cannot attend a camp or conference program. With travel and so many other restrictive factors in play, please rest assured that AYF will keep no payments for any cancellations related to the impact of COVID-19.

We are reaching out to Community and School Program partners scheduled to be at one of our campuses this spring. If you are wondering about the status of a program scheduled this spring, please reach out to our offices and we look forward to connecting with you.

It is not lost on us that schools are sending students home, most extracurricular activities have been canceled, workplace demands are shifting, and restrictions are being introduced into our daily lives. Everyone is anxious and rightfully so. These are indeed trying times AND these are the very times when the best within each of us is called to rise. Now is when the skills and strengths campers have developed and discovered at AYF programs are vitally important, and now is when we invite all to seek opportunities to take positive action in the interest of others.

With this in mind, it is our hope to roll out a virtual program of sorts; sharing tools, readings, activities that will allow both parents and campers to connect with each other in positive, purposeful ways that enable them to support each other while also exploring ways they can use their capacities to strengthen our struggling communities. We often say in the AYF that “It’s a mark of leadership to adjust” and so adjust we will. We hope each of you will accept our invitation to bring the mission of AYF to life in a new way at a necessary time. This is our dare.

Thank you for being part of our AYF community. We look forward to having you in the AYF family for years to come. And we look forward to rising with you in the challenging months ahead.

Aspire Nimbly!

Anna Kay

Anna Kay Vorsteg
AYF President

Posted on March 5, 2020

As news of the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) becomes available, the American Youth Foundation (AYF) is proactively planning for any impact to our programs. We are concerned with the health and well-being of all of the participants and staff in our communities and are monitoring the developing situation closely.

At this time, there are no travel advisories regarding COVID-19 in Michigan or New Hampshire that would impact our programs. As such, we plan to conduct all programs unless travel is restricted or we are otherwise advised by local, state, or federal authorities. We will continue to evaluate new information as it becomes available, and we are prepared to adjust if necessary. We will keep our participants, families, and staff informed if any changes need to happen in terms of our program offerings.

We encourage you to find more information through these trusted sources:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• The World Health Organization
• U.S. State Department Travel Information

As a preventative measure against disease transmission, all of our programs stress the importance of hygiene and safety. We will add extra attention to the implementation of these recommendations from the CDC :

• Frequent handwashing with soap and water or using alcohol-based sanitizer
• Using the crook of your arm to cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing
• Avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth

We will continue to enforce our community health protocols for the safety of all. If a participant or staff arrives at our sites exhibiting signs and symptoms of flu-like illness (fever, cough, sore throat, and shortness of breath), they will not be admitted to the program. Anyone with reason to believe they have been exposed to COVID-19 will need to be cleared by a medical provider before entering the sites. We will follow local medical advice for participants and staff that the person may have had contact with.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding AYF’s preparation and response to this public health event. We will continue to communicate with updates as they are available.

Updated March 5, 2020 3pm CST

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