As we prepare to celebrate the unofficial end of summer this Labor Day weekend, the Y is taking a look back at the 2026 YMCA Summer Camp Season! It was another amazing summer filled with friendship, learning, and meaningful life experiences for everyone involved!
We’d like to thank all of our camp families for spending the summer with us here at the YMCA and wish everyone all the best during the new school year.
We’d also like to thank all of our wonderful community partners who opened their doors and their hearts, allowing us to provide much-needed summer child care at locations throughout Will and Grundy Counties.
Finally, we’d like to thank our top-notch summer camp team for their boundless enthusiasm, compassion, and creativity. Their hard work and tireless dedication helped to ensure that each of our campers had a summer full of fun and adventures.
As we take a look back at the summer that was, let’s take a closer look at YMCA Summer Camp ‘By the Numbers:’
Eight Summer Day Camp Locations
With a little help from our friends, this year we hosted summer day camp at our YMCA facilities and at offsite locations throughout the community. Thank you, Salvation Army Joliet Corps Community Center, Messiah Lutheran Church, Plainfield School District 202, and Valley View School District 365U for opening your doors and helping us serve kids in our community this summer.
Two Teen REACH Summer Camp Locations
We want to thank our partners at the Salvation Army and Joliet Junior College for helping us provide a free summer day camp program for 6th-8th grade students in Joliet, allowing campers access to life skills education, mentorship/career exploration, STEAM, and service learning activities.
33 Summer Day Camp Volunteers
Student volunteers from local high schools, as well as volunteers from Catholic Charities of Joliet and Aunt Martha’s Health and Wellness, were a pivotal resource in our camp programs this summer. These wonderful volunteers provided assistance to Y staff and helped to ensure campers participated in a wide range of learning opportunities. We are proud to say that during the 2026 summer camp season, our incredible team of summer camp volunteers provided more than 1,600 hours of assistance in our camp programs.
More than 300 Counselors
YMCA summer camp programs would not be possible without the dedication, versatility, and inspiring leadership of our camp staff team.
More than 4,000 “Go Blue” Swim Lessons Taught
We are so thankful for the efforts of the aquatics teams at the C.W. Avery Family YMCA, Morris Hospital YMCA, and Village of Shorewood YMCA for helping campers learn the important life skill of swimming. You can learn more about the “Go Blue” initiative by visiting our blog.
More Than $205,000 Raised by the Y’s Mission Strong Campaign
At the Y, nobody is turned away due to the inability to pay. And, this summer, 1 out of every 2 campers who attended summer day camp programs at the YMCA received financial assistance through our Mission Strong Fund. This was made possible thanks to precious funds gifted by generous donors.
Thank you all again for a wonderful Summer Camp season! We look forward to seeing campers back at the YMCA next summer. Camp registration for the summer of 2027 will get underway next March!
