How Cheerio Cares for you

Meals

All meals at Cheerio are served family style, and campers sit with their counselors and cabinmates at tables assigned to their cabin. During their session campers will take a turn to be KP and arrive at the dining hall early to set their cabin’s tables. All of our meals are kid friendly, but alternatives like cereal or peanut butter and jelly are always available for picky eaters. Our kitchen is well prepared to accommodate campers with special diets or food allergies. Vegetarian and gluten/dairy free options are readily available, and every effort is made to satisfy other dietary restrictions as needed. Fresh fruit and water are always available between meals should campers get hungry during the day. If your child has any special dietary needs or restrictions that the kitchen staff should know about in advance, please contact Martyn Armstrong in the camp office: 336-869-0195.

Homesickness

It is not uncommon for younger or first time campers to experience minor homesickness during their first night at camp. Our counselors are trained to handle this, and are very good at re-focusing camper’s energy into all the fun and exciting things going on at camp. With that guidance many campers are over their homesickness by the end of the first day, and by the end of the week don’t want to go home! In those few cases where that isn’t enough, campers will receive personalized attention from our head counselors or other leadership staff members. If homesickness is causing a child to refuse to participate in activities, disrupt cabin life, or otherwise negatively impact the experience of other campers we will call you to discuss the situation. We hope to help campers through any homesickness, and we will make every effort to do so. Over the years, very few children have gone home due to homesickness.

Health and Safety

Each week we have 3 nurses and 1 doctor who live on site and provide medical care for our campers and counselors. One of the main roles of our nurses is to dispense the medications campers bring with them to camp. Medications are turned in to the medical staff during check-in and given out at scheduled times throughout each day. At the end of each meal, and after store each night we ring a bell to signal that it’s time for medicine. Any camper scheduled to take medicine at that time will go meet our nurses to receive their medication.

We take every precaution to avoid sickness and injuries at Cheerio, but our health center is always available for anyone who is hurt or feeling under the weather. The medical staff have at their disposal all of the first-aid supplies and over the counter medications necessary to treat cuts, scrapes, bee stings, splinters, headaches, coughs, stomach aches, or whatever else comes their way. In the event that more serious injuries occur, we are only 30 minutes away from Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital. We will ALWAYS notify you by phone call if your child:

• spends the night in the health center for any reason
• is running a fever of 101 degrees or higher
• is taken off site to receive medical treatment
• will be started on prescription medication

The decision of whether or not to call parents about minor bumps and bruises is made on a case-by-case basis by the medical staff in conjunction with camp directors.