Hyde Park Apachi day camp closing due to low enrollment; will combine with Old Town next year: JCC

CHICAGO (WLS) -- This is the last week of summer camp for Apachi day camps in the Chicago area, but for Hyde Park attendees it's the last day of their camp forever. The Hyde Park location will close for good this Friday.

Samantha Crockett said she had planned to send her young daughter there for several more years, but now has to look for another option.

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"She loves swimming every day, which is amazing because before she went to camp, she didn't even want to get in the pool," she said.

Crockett, who lives in Bronzeville, said parents were notified a couple weeks ago that Apachi Hyde Park would close at the end of the season with little explanation as to why. She said the decision was a blow to many South Side families.

"If they had talked to the parents, maybe we could have come up with additional solutions that would have better served the Hyde Park constituents instead of just straight closing," Crockett said.

Jewish Community Center of Chicago currently operates 10 Apachi day camps in Chicago and the north suburbs. The Hyde Park location is the farthest south.

The CEO of JCC said each campus has close to 500 students, but enrollment at Hyde Park has dwindled, saying, "Unfortunately, Apachi Hyde Park has gotten smaller and smaller over the years and this summer has less than 130 campers, leading JCC to consolidate the camp with Apachi Old Town located at Walter Payton High School next year."

Camp counselor Ariel Fox said Hyde Park was small but special.

"We have some campers who, their parents come all the way from the North Side to bring them down here just so that they could make sure that their kids do get the diversity they we offer here," Fox said.

Rabbi David Minkus said that's why he values Apachi Hyde Park, and added that closing the campus is a loss in a day and age where exposure to different culture is more important than ever

"It's a really diverse community. And the camp is made up of all people who live on the South Side as opposed to my upbringing, where it was mostly Jewish kids and almost exclusively white kids," he said.

Free bus service will be offered for Hyde Park families to the Walter Peyton campus next year, but some parents who ABC7 spoke to said they weren't sure if their kids would be back.