07/17/2026
Dear Circle Pines Community,
As many of you already know, we are currently experiencing air quality ranging from unhealthy to hazardous, due to smoke from wildfires in Ontario. This current wave of smoke may be clear by Sunday, but we are anticipating this being a recurring issue this summer.
The administration and health teams at CPC Summer Camp are working on developing immediate solutions and long-term plans to mitigate the impact of this air quality on camper health and camp programming.
Currently, we have canceled all outdoor activities for today and moved all of the camp indoors, inside the farmhouse. We’ve closed up the farmhouse, and are working on making and buying more air filtration. We are keeping an extra close eye on the few campers who have asthma. We have enough KN95s on hand for every camper to get 1 mask to wear outside, going to and from bathrooms and units. We are planning to move the Juniors campers to sleep in the extra Acorn cabin tonight, and move the YALs sleep on the side porch of the farmhouse. We’re exploring options for better enclosing the older, screen-door Youthies cabins. In the meantime, we may consolidate the Youthie unit in the newer cabin or move them to the farmhouse dining room to sleep tonight.
Going forward, we are working on developing a data-based plan for CPC with AQI benchmarks to determine safe programming and camper accommodations, ranging from monitoring sensitive campers, to limiting vigorous outdoor activities, to limiting all outdoor activities, to mandating campers spend time indoors with air filtration. We will send this plan out to families within the next day or two.
Additionally, we are ordering more KN95 masks, air purifiers, and filters, as well as looking into acquiring AC units for some of the enclosed cabins so that they can stay cool at night, since we’ve been relying on box fans in open windows for cooling. New doors or windows may be installed in the cabins which need them, or perhaps simply closed up with plywood for the time being to limit exposure to smoke. Longer-term solutions for the Juniors unit in particular are being explored with great curiosity, and if found, will almost certainly require a lot of time and materials.
Thank you to each and every family who has reached out with concern and cooperation, asking how to help. It is this commitment to solidarity that has kept Circle Pines going for over 80 years. And it is this kind of commitment that will keep Circle Pines Center around for another 80 years, through all the changes and challenges that are coming our way.
You can help by donating to our Operating Fund, which we will use to take the necessary actions for health and safety, including purchasing masks, air purification solutions, and more.
These solutions are expensive, particularly for an organization like Circle Pines which operates on a limited budget even in years when grant funding is plentiful. We are expecting to spend $200-300 per air purifier, and $100 per DIY HEPA box fan air purifier, not including replacement filters. The costs of additional ACs, materials to enclose cabins, and extra power to run air purifiers and air conditioners will also be significant. We are committed to making these improvements to protect camper health and the health of everyone who enjoys Circle Pines.
You can add a note in your donation that says “air quality”, and we will use 100% of that donation to improve the air quality for campers at CPC. If you would like to make an in-kind donation of N95 or KN95 masks or HEPA air purifiers, please reach out at [email protected].
We are keeping a close eye on the AQI. I will update you on the plans and conditions here as they change. If you have any additional questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Thank you very much.
In cooperation,
Tegwyn John
Summer Camp Director
