The summer camps of Malverne, West Hempstead

Now that school is out, how are kids spending these long summer days?

For hundreds throughout Malverne and West Hempstead, the answer is summer camp. The Malverne Summer Recreation Program, Camp Lourdes and Hillel Day Camp have given children the opportunity to keep learning throughout their school-free months and have fun doing it.

“It’s a different learning opportunity from sitting in a classroom all day,” said a spokesperson for Hillel Day Camp, an Orthodox Jewish day camp in Lawrence. More than 200 of this year’s campers are from West Hempstead. “There are so many different lessons that the kids are learning in camp that they don't get to the other 10 months of the year.”

“They're learning the skills to play and to be a team member,” she added. “They're learning so many different kinds of things like that.”

The program, which runs through July and August, sees campers from toddlerhood into 9th grade. The children enjoy hot lunch, snacks, sports, a STEM program, and swimming. Plus, entertainment — bubble shows, ninja warrior courses, and science shows, to name a few — is regularly brought into camp.

The kids at Camp Lourdes, in Our Lady of Lourdes R.C. Church in Malverne also enjoy special trips and activities. The program, which runs for the first two weeks of July, saw its biggest year yet with close to 150 campers and 80 volunteer counselors. It’s more counselors than is strictly needed, said Linda Baldacchino, the camp director — but to see the volunteers getting involved in service and their church, it is hard to turn any of them away.

“A lot of them really love the children,” said Baldacchino, who also serves as the church’s coordinator of youth ministry. “They love interacting with them, and they have a camaraderie with each other too.”

The kids, who are between 4 and 10 years old, enjoy arts and crafts, snack time, a Bible story, and a song that relates to the lesson they learned. This year’s theme is “Follow the Signs of Peace,” and each child is creating its own board game that helps demonstrate the lessons they learned. The program, which celebrated its 25th year this summer, culminated in a performance July12 that included songs and skits about the signs of peace.

One of the foremost priorities of the Malverne Summer Recreation program is a summer camp as a celebration of community. Coordinated by the village, the program in Maurice W. Downing Primary School runs through Aug. 15. It sees children from kindergarten to 7th grade enjoy arts and crafts, a game room, snack time, and three different fields with different activities. On special days, campers enjoy field trips to Crossroads Farm, Sandy Lanes and Malverne Cinemas. The older children go on trips to enjoy laser tag, mini golf, and batting cages.

On the last day, all the campers go to Malverne High School to enjoy Water Day. It is exactly as it sounds — a day full of water slides, dunk tanks and water balloons.

"In more cases than ever, many families have parents working outside their home which makes Malverne's Summer Camp all the more important as a valued service offered in our community,” said Malverne Mayor Tim Sullivan in an email. “But I know that our residents, the kids that participate and the camp employees know that it is much more than that. They look forward to meeting new friends, laughing with one another, friendly competition or even enjoying an ice cream cone on a hot day or watching a movie on the big screen.

Administrators of all three camps say their favorite part of their programs is the lifelong bonds that are forged in their camps. Many children who grew up in the summer camps, return as counselors. Jill Valli, the Malverne Village Clerk and camp administrator alongside Camp Director Jake Phillips, said that nine out of 10 campers of the Malverne Summer Recreation Program return to be counselors.

“It’s like a tradition (for teenagers in Malverne),” Valli said, “That your first job is with Malverne Summer Rec.”

It is the same way for Hillel Day Camp and Camp Lourdes.

“They can’t keep me away,” said Eileen Crinnion, a camper at Camp Lourdes growing up. She leads the Arts and Crafts program at the camp. “I just love it here. It’s really special. There’s no energy like Camp Lourdes.”

“He feels like this is his family,” the spokesperson for Hillel Day Camp said of her son, who is now a counselor in training. “It comes back to the community and camaraderie camp instills in the kids.”