Kara T.
Aug 8, 2023
We had an extremely disappointing experience at YMCA Day Camp Heritage. My 6-year-old son came home extremely burnt on several occasions every week despite the fact that we sent sunscreen and requested on multiple occasions to have the camp counselors ensure sunscreen was applied.The director, MacKenzie Erpenbach, is also very unprofessional, angry and irritated with families and children at camp (and a few other staff are as well). But, many were very kind. However, we feel all staff, especially the leaders, should have patience and love working with children if they are in this environment. In addition, my son was also bullied by two children at camp and the camp counselors did not intervene. Only when my son decided to fight back (albeit, physically, which was not appropriate), did the staff step in. When we addressed that bullying was occurring, MacKenzie's response was to ignore this fact, even though getting to the root cause (the bullying) could have prevented my son's reaction. Instead, only my son was asked to go home early and was not allowed to go back to camp the next day. In addition, my son had an individual camper plan which was sent via email and also a printed copy in his backpack. The staff, including MacKenzie (the director), claimed to be unaware of the plan and did not follow the plan once I reminded them of the plan.Many of the counselors there are very sweet and great with the kids. However, unfortunately, the camp needs to have a great director overseeing the camp to see improvement. My advice is to look at other YMCA camps before sending your children to YMCA Day Camp Heritage unless a new director is put in charge.
Read More