PARENT INFORMATION

Campers are grouped by age and we make every effort to meet such requests. Simply make a note on your application mentioning the other camper’s name.

Camp is about both being with old friends and making new friends. Many children do come not knowing anyone, however through the camp program and our trained staff, they will leave having made many new friends.

Practically all overnight camps choose not to encourage direct contact between campers and their parents during the camp session. Summer camp is a time to learn to be self sufficient, independent, and self-reliant. Camp is a time to focus on having fun and making friends away from home.

Child psychologists recommend that parents need to step back, allow their child to develop self-reliance away from home, and trust the camp they have chosen to provide positive care and support.

If there is any problem, the parents are called promptly. This would include any disciplinary issues or injuries in which off-site medical attention is required.

Involve your camper in the camp decisions such as what they are packing (i.e. shoes, favorite blanket, favorite stuffed animal etc.). Make it very clear to your camper when he/she is leaving and when he/she is coming home.

Allow your child to spend a weekend away at a friend’s house or a grandparent’s house before camp. Make it as easy as possible for your camper to write you (i.e. self addressed, stamped postcards). Mail your camper a letter before he/she leaves for camp. He/she will have a letter waiting from you on the first day! Campers also LOVE packages. Mail is a big deal at camp!

Finally, bring your camper to a Camp Open House at Chanco in the spring (see first question for the details on this). The Open House is a great time to introduce your camper to some of the staff, the Executive Director, and to see where he/she will be sleeping, eating and having fun!

Chanco has employed a private dining service to provide the meals for our campers. They follow the ACA guidelines on healthy menus. The meals vary and are prepared in our commercial kitchen, which is inspected by the Health Department regularly. Most meals are served in our air-conditioned dinning hall, however some days there are special theme meals like a Luau on the beach! Vegetarian options are available at every meal.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are also available at lunch and dinner if a camper doesn’t care for that particular meal, as is our wonderful salad bar.

After dinner most nights, the Canteen is open so kids can get a little something sweet to snack on in the evening if they wish.

Chanco employs a full-time registered nurse to oversee all health concerns and allergies. Counseling staff is also trained in CPR and First Aid. The camp has a Risk Management Plan and a Board Certified MD approves the entire program. The Surry Rescue Squad EMTs and the Volunteer Fire Station both respond quickly when needed.

Again, Chanco’s medical program is approved by the American Camp Association and is required to adhere to national medical standards.

After 40+ years of providing our summer camping program, Chanco knows that kids do have accidents, but we have developed the best system to keep our campers happy and healthy!

We strive to hire only the best counselors to care for your campers. Our staff switch campsites between each session, so while we may not be able to tell you specifically who will be in your camper’s campsite for each session, check out our “Summer Staff” page to meet the amazing people we have hired to serve this summer.

The majority of our counseling staff are college students who were campers themselves. Every counselor is first aid and CPR certified. Chanco is accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA) and follows the national standards set forth for residential camps, including a supervision ratio of one staff to six campers.

The counselors stay in their own chalet in the campsite just feet away from the campers’ chalets and all go through a thorough background check.

There are many ways to stay in touch with your camper. We give postal mail out every day at lunch, including care packages. The old fashioned “snail mail” is a BIG deal at camp and campers look forward to your letters! At Chanco, we have a tradition that campers sing for their mail. This is really fun and no child sings alone! There are usually at least ten children up front singing for mail and having fun daily!

Additionally, Chanco uses an Internet-based company named BunkNotes which enables parents to send one way emails to their camper. Pictures of campers are posted regularly in the photo album section of our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Chancoonthejames. Through these photos, parents can see their kids having fun and also see firsthand all the various activities their child is enjoying while at camp.

This will be included your registration information. Drop off is Sunday between 1 and 3 pm. The staff will meet you at the top of the driveway and direct you where to park and where registration is taking place. During registration you will need to turn in any remaining paperwork. Final payment for sessions should be made two weeks in advance of the session start date. You will be asked to identify who will be picking up your child at the end of the session to give us permission to release your child to their supervision (if different from yourself).

Medical information will be reviewed by our infirmary staff privately with you so he/she can fully understand any important information pertaining to your child. Also in the infirmary, a quick lice check is done privately on every camper. After moving through registration, you will meet your child’s counselor and unload your luggage. There will be counseling staff to help you take your child’s belongings out of the car and put it with the correct campsite at a clearly marked luggage drop off station. The last thing to do is visit the camp store, “the Canteen,” for a great T-shirt or other fun Chanco items such as water bottles, Frisbees, bags, sweatshirts etc.

Pick up is always on a Friday and occurs at 9:00am. Your campers will be waiting for you with their counselors, who will return any remaining balance on your child’s Canteen account. Visit the Canteen to get a last minute snack for the trip home. Campers will only be released to the person named by the family member dropping them off. If pick up arrangements change during the course of the session, please call the office to notify us of the change. If there is an emergency during the camp session and you need to contact your child, call our office and Chanco staff will be ready to assist you.

We look forward to seeing you at Chanco on the James, where kids come for summer fun!

A detailed “what to bring” sheet is sent to parents after registration is received. Please keep in mind that camp can be messy (food, arts and crafts, river water etc.) and do not pack your child’s best outfits or bathing suits. Some families/campers find that packing in a trunk or a Rubbermaid container is easier and keeps things neater than packing in a suitcase or duffle bag. We most frequently hear campers say they wish they had extra bathing suits and extra towels. These get wet and don’t always dry as quickly as you’d like!

Also, it is highly recommended that you label ALL of your child’s belongings with their name and phone number. Campers may lose their belongings or, in a cabin of six campers, a camper’s belongings may mistakenly end up in another’s trunk. If you have the clothing labeled with the camper’s name and phone number, it is much easier to get clothing back where it belongs! You may use a sharpie marker to do this or there are easy iron-on labels available. One website that sells this type of label is www.irononmdlabels.com.

The capital improvement fee is an annual fee that will be deposited to a fund for camp renovations, maintenance, and improvements. For example, the dining hall needs to be enlarged and needs a new roof. The capital fee has helped to fund improvements such as re-painting and re-surfacing the bathhouses, repairing zip lines, adding high ropes course elements, and repairing our well.

Periodically, our boats on the riverfront need repair and/or replacement. These are just a few examples of the types of improvements this fund helps to subsidize.

Chanco has its own brand of spirituality within a Christian community. There are fun songs of prayer before each meal and evening prayer during chalet meetings before bedtime. There are daily devotions by our camp chaplains. Our camp chaplains are clergy or Christian educators from the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. On Sunday we have an outdoor Eucharist service on the bluff overlooking the James River celebrated by a clergy member. The camp chaplains facilitate a workshop involving small group discussion, crafts, and other hands-on activities about the meaning of God and spirituality. The campers rotate through this workshop as a campsite, just as they do the other camp activities.

Youth are encouraged to explore God’s presence in their own lives, ask questions, and share experiences in these small group discussions. Many kids are inspired by and see God’s presence in the natural beauty that surrounds them everywhere they look. A sunset on the James River, a night of stories by a glowing camp fire, or a glimpse of a deer in the woods can have a peaceful and profound impact on anyone who spends time here at Chanco. The Christian experience is age appropriate and understands that campers are from many different religious backgrounds and varied denominations. Every effort is made to make all campers feel welcome, safe, and valuable as members of their campsite and camp community.

Yes, every summer Chanco has several campers with various allergies including, but not limited to allergies to gluten, peanuts and peanut products, wheat germ, and lactose.

These allergies are recorded on the medical form turned in with the camper registration and the campsite counselors, the kitchen staff, and the Camp Nurse are informed of the allergies. The kitchen staff will prepare food for these campers accordingly.