PEABODY — Monday marked the long-awaited reopening of many businesses under the second part of Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan.
Among those enjoying a successful first day under the new normal were the Torigian Family YMCA day-care facilities and its summer day camp, Camp Eastman.
As Massachusetts continues to inch closer to the beginning of Phase 3 in early July, Torigian has shifted its focus to finalizing plans for the safe reopening of its indoor-fitness facility, announcing over the weekend that it will host a virtual town hall on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to seek member input about the reopening process and also share details about the plan with members.
“It’s going to be good, as we had two town halls last week that focused on camps and we got some great questions from summer camp families,” said Torigian Executive Director Rob Lowell. “We also got some great feedback as people were impressed with the modifications we had made to the camp program and hope to do the same on Wednesday.”
A statement on the organization’s website added, “While we don’t know the exact dates we can begin to open, we understand that many members will have questions about what the YMCA is doing to get our facility ready so we can reopen our doors.”
Torigian staff members will be on hand to answer members’ questions, as well as update the membership on the status of its reopening plan, including specific details. Members may register online and submit their questions on the registration form. A link to join the meeting will then be made available.
“We posted (the town hall announcement) on our website on Saturday. So far we have nearly 90 registrants (as of noon on Monday),” said YMCA Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Sandy St. Louis. She said many people are already asking questions on how to reserve pool lanes, what practices are in place for cleaning, whether or not they need to wear face masks and general questions about what the Y is doing to keep people safe.
To register, go to https://www.ymcametronorth.org/locations/torigian-family-ymca-peabody/.
Meanwhile on Monday, the hot, humid conditions of the weekend gave way to cooler, more pleasant temperatures in the mid 70’s, just in time for the opening of the Y’s Camp Eastman.
Sixty of the 74 campers who registered for the program showed up, taking part in a wide assortment of traditional summer activities, starting with the always-popular pool game, Marco Polo. Campers also had a chance to create personally decorated, 80s- and 90s- themed CD ornaments during arts and crafts. Future projects include home-designed and decorated face masks.
The camp will also be offering swimming and outdoor splash park every day, archery, hikes and nature walks, Mission Impossible, Moby Deck, a low ropes challenge, rock climbing and special Friday events in which campers take on fun challenges. This Friday’s challenge is Double Dare, a timed obstacle-course relay race.
Every camp week will have a theme. This week’s theme is history.
Campers will also have the opportunity to hear several lecture series, including presentations on bullying prevention, nutrition and sports safety.
New this year is the Reading Time contest, an initiative to help combat the loss of learning from school buildings being shut down.
“We plan to track those results every few weeks throughout the summer while competing against the other camps in our association for the most pages read by camp for the summer,” said D.J. Fimiani, Torigian Sports and Enrichment Director, adding that, “Smiles were aplenty from the moment the kids got out of their cars this morning!”
