After the sudden closure of a critical after-school child care program in La Pine earlier this fall, a local youth organization stepped in to fill the gap.

Camp Fire Central Oregon is now providing care and activities to kids at La Pine Elementary School five days a week. Enrolled students at Rosland Elementary will be bused over by Bend-La Pine Schools transportation department. The program replaces the HUB, previously offered by the La Pine Park & Recreation District, which shuttered in October amid turmoil and financial problems in the district and after the resignation of its entire board of directors.

Bend-La Pine Schools officials pushed for the new program, knowing La Pine families needed child care for the rest of the school year. Camp Fire had already opened an after-school program at Three Rivers School in Sunriver in September. This opportunity allowed the organization to expand to all of southern Deschutes County, something the organization has been wanting to do for some time.

“It was a shock to the parents. The community of La Pine came together to try to come up with an immediate solution for those parents and that was great to see,” said Anne Birky, facilities support supervisor for the school district. “Now we have a program that we can offer to the parents that need it and, so, just to see the way the community works together I think has been really awesome.”

Expanding to La Pine

For a time, both the HUB and Camp Fire had programs in Sunriver. After the HUB closed, Birky suggested Camp Fire absorb those students and consider opening a program in La Pine.

“It’s been a little bit of everybody recommending Camp Fire,” said Logan Betts, Camp Fire program manager. “With La Pine Parks and Rec shutting down and HUB closing its doors, we were presented with the opportunity to grow further into south county.”

Camp Fire hired staff for the La Pine location and sourced grants in order to fund programming. Programming costs were $150,000. The organization will offer families roughly the same rates as the HUB for the remainder of the school year at both locations. Funding from Pacific Source ensured the organization could offer subsidized child care to all south county families, said Betts .

The program first hired additional staff for its Three Rivers site, opened a site at La Pine Elementary, and is now waiting to see if the demand at Rosland Elementary will be so great that it will need its own site. The south county staff now has eight people total, and most of them live there.

Camp Fire’s enrollment is slightly more customizable than the HUB’s system, allowing families to sign up for individual days instead of having to be enrolled in all five days of the week.

“They’re going really well,” she said of the first few days of the program. “We had all the same activities planned that our all Three Rivers kids are getting to participate in, and the kids were excited and everything is going really well so far. We’re excited to be there and excited to be able to help the families transition into new after-school programming.”

The after-school program has a theme every day, and an activity that corresponds to said theme. For example, on a science day Tuesday, organizers were planning a wind experiment, she said. Each activity is for appropriate ages. After-school care also includes a welcome circle, crafting, games, outdoor play and snacks.

St. Charles Health System, Sunriver Christian Fellowship Endowment Fund, First Interstate Bank, Rotary Club of La Pine and other individual and corporate donors also contributed to funding for Camp Fire’s program at La Pine Elementary.

Connecting with the community

The Three Rivers program has between 22 to 25 students, while the La Pine program has between 12 and 15 students so far. Betts expects that number to rise over time. The program enrolls in seasons, and still has openings for the winter, which runs January through March, and spring sessions, which runs April through June. Capacity for each site is set at 30 kids. For La Pine Elementary, 20 spots are reserved for La Pine kids and 10 are reserved for Rosland kids, though this may shift in the future.

Camp Fire’s contract with Bend-La Pine Schools for the south county sites goes through the end of the school year. The funding Camp Fire has received will subsidize after-school costs through June and transportation for Rosland students is also valid for that time. Camp Fire is always searching for new funding in the hope that its contract is renewed for another school year.

Camp Fire has been working with the school district for a number of years, running a program at Amity Creek Magnet at Thompson School and a summer program through the schools.

Betts wants to make sure kids make connections with staff, other kids and their community. The HUB’s closure was “terrible,” she said, and she wants to make sure that families, teachers and community members reach out if they have questions about how Camp Fire is working.

“We really just want families to see through our efforts that we really are wanting to do what’s best for the community and what’s best for these families that are at these schools,” said Betts. “We’re hoping that by stepping in and finding funding, so that we were able to subsidize costs, that these families feel safe having their kids come to Camp Fire’s programs.”

Camp Fire

in South County

More information on the Camp Fire After-School South County programs can be found on the Camp Fire Central Oregon website, including a pricing calculator for those families who were previously enrolled in the HUB program. Camp Fire still has slots open through the rest of the school year.

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