First-time Campers

Sending your kid away to any camp for the first time comes with many unknowns. We hope to answer some of those uncertainties to help you, and your children, feel as confident as possible in entrusting them into our care.

Camp Philosophy

Cancer doesn’t discriminate and neither do we. Our community is a diverse one and we strive to reflect that in all that we do.

At our core, Camp Goodtimes:

• Creates a caring space for kids to be kids

• Instills confidence by encouraging campers to try new things and push past their boundaries

• Sees all campers for themselves and not their or their siblings’ diagnosis

Cabin Living

At capacity, camp can have up to 12 camper cabins. Each cabin at Camp Goodtimes sleeps between 7-10 campers and two adult cabin counselors. Campers are assigned to cabins by age and gender (unless camper or volunteer numbers require us to extend age ranges or create mixed-gender cabins). If your child’s identity is gender non-conforming, click here to review our transgender camper policy. If your child is developmentally delayed, please indicate on your application if they would do best placed in a cabin according to their calendar age or their developmental age.

All cabins have a bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower, although we have the majority of campers shower in the centrally-located shower house. Campers and staff sleep on wooden bunk beds with twin-sized mattresses.

Family-Style Dining

All meals, with the exception of picnic lunches and sleep-in breakfast (on Friday morning), are eaten in the Dining Hall. Campers and staff gather at the front steps before each meal to sing songs before parading inside. Once inside, staff lead a brief, campy grace before everyone sits down to begin eating.

Each cabin has their own table with bench seats. Meals are served family style with one person getting a food tray for the whole table. Breakfasts are accompanied by a breakfast bar which includes cereal, oatmeal, and fruit. This transitions to a salad bar during lunch and dinner.

Sample menu

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs, sausages, breakfast potatoes, breakfast bar

• Lunch: mac and cheese, chicken strips, salad bar

• Dinner: lasagna, bread sticks, salad bar

  • Vegetarian and special diet options are available at all meals.

  • Nut butter and jelly sandwiches are available at most dinners.

Sample Schedule

A whole lot of fun is packed into each week of Camp Goodtimes, but we make sure to allow for some down-time as well. Below is an example of our daily schedule which gives you insight into what we do during the week.

Daily Schedule

Our General Camp Schedule outlines camp activities, meal times, and evening programming.

Our Cabin Schedule provides details about what each cabin does during the four activity periods. We’ve highlighted Cabin 4’s schedule so you can get an idea of some activities a single cabin might do during the week.

Map of Camp

Camp Goodtimes rents a camp property on Vashon Island called Camp Burton. It’s set on beautiful, water-front property and is surrounded by nature. Click here to view a map of the campground to help familiarize yourself and your camper(s) before you arrive. Need driving directions? Check them out here.

Arrival and camper pick up

We welcome over 50 families (up to 110 campers) to each session of Camp Goodtimes. It’s essential that parents adhere to our check-in and pick-up windows unless otherwise communicated.

If you are unable to get your kiddo(s) to camp during the check-in window, or need to arrange a pick-up time outside of our normal check-out period, please contact our camp director, Tanya, prior to camp to make arrangements; tanya@thegoodtimesproject.org

Camper Check-in

Check-in is from ~2:00-4:00 pm on the Sunday of your camp session. Please note that afternoon wait times at the ferry can be long. We suggest giving yourself plenty of time to make it out to Vashon. You could even travel over early and grab lunch on-island before arriving at camp.

Camper Pick-up

The camper pick-up window is from approx 11:00 am-noon on the Saturday of your camp session. Ensure that you get all of your child’s belongings; check out the lost and found table just in case and get all of their medications from the nurses.

Please note: we only allow adults listed in the Camper Pick Up section of their CampDoc application to pick up your child. If your plans change mid-week and you need to add/remove someone to that list, please contact our camp director, Tanya; tanya@thegoodtimesproject.org

Medical Care

Camp Goodtimes has medical professionals on-site 24/7 to care for your child. We have a team of nurses dedicated to administering medications, as well as an on-call nurse practitioner or doctor to attend to over-night medical emergencies.

Each cabin has a nurse assigned to take care of their medications and medical needs throughout the week. Meds are distributed during meals and nurses do rounds before breakfast, at bedtime, and are available throughout the day.

You will go over all of your camper’s medications and special care instructions with their nurse during check-in. IMPORTANT: please bring medications and supplements (both prescription and over-the-counter) in their ORIGINAL CONTAINERS and bring slightly more than enough to last the entire week of camp.

Camp Staff

In addition to the camp director and assistant camp director who are paid staff of The Goodtimes Project, we hire 50-65 adult volunteers (aged 18+) who have been interviewed and who have undergone a background check. Our camper to staff ratio, for all ages of campers, does not exceed 5:1.

Packing for Camp

The sample packing list can be found here, but below are a few items of note that every camper should bring to camp.

• Bedding

  • Sleeping bag or twin sheets and blanket

• Towels and toiletries

  • We recommend packing two towels; one for the pool/waterfront and one for showering

  • If sending more than one kid to camp, remember to pack the following for EACH of your children: toothbrush, toothpaste, comb/brush, shampoo, washcloth

• Medications & Supplements (like vitamins)

  • All meds should be packed separately and in their original containers, as they need to be turned in during check-in

  • Please pack enough meds for the entire week (a slight overage is recommended)

• Two or three pairs of shoes

  • One pair of old tennis shoes/water shoes to wear in the water (no toe-less shoes)

  • Sturdy hiking/running shoes for general use

  • Sandals with secure straps may be used when not in active activity time

• Phones and technology

  • We do not allow campers to have phones or technologies, such as gaming equipment or iPads, with them at camp.

  • Camp is a place to recharge, embrace nature, and disengage with “the real world.”