2026 Application and Placement Details
1. Submit one online application per applicant anytime between January 11 - 13, 2026. Enrollment is not first come, first served.
- No payment is required to submit an application. We offer payment plans and financial assistance to all families to offset financial barriers. Enrolled applicants will be able to select financial assistance using a need-based sliding scale.
- Due to high demand, a submitted application is not a guarantee of placement in camp.
- An applicant may only attend ONE camp session. Be sure to select all possible session choices your applicant can attend on your application.
- We do our best to accommodate and review family applications together if they are indicated in each other’s applications.
- Camp applications will not be reviewed or sorted until after the application window closes on January 13th. If your availability changes after you have submitted your application, please sign-in to your account to make edits by January 13th.
2. Beginning January 14, 2026 the camp team sorts applications into the following categories:
- Returning campers
- Community partners
- Previously waitlisted applicants
- First-time applicants
- We use our camp goals coupled with a lottery-style process to enroll applicants into camp.
- We review each application individually and do our best to accommodate and review family applications together if they are indicated in each other’s applications.
- We will try to enroll applicants in their first choice session. If that session is full, we move on to your second choice, third choice, etc., until we find a place for your applicant. Some weeks fill up more quickly than others, and we will look at all your choices before placing your applicant on the waitlist.
- Once all camp sessions are full, all remaining applicants will be placed on the waitlist. We continue to use a lottery-style process to sort the order of the waitlist.
3. Each household will be notified by email 2 - 3 weeks after the application period.
- Be sure to scroll through all pages of your email attachment.
- Applicants who are not placed in camp during the initial enrollment will be placed on the waitlist.
- Waitlisted applicants will be notified if space in a requested camp session becomes available.
- Applications received after January 14th will be considered first come, first served for remaining openings or for the waitlist.
4. By February 15, 2026, you must confirm or cancel your placement in camp:
- To confirm your camp placement, please complete all forms (including Financial Assistance), and submit full or partial payment on your online account. Enrollment notification emails will include more specific instructions. Applicants enrolled in camp will be able to select Financial Assistance using a need-based sliding scale from your online account. We kindly ask that you request only as much as you need to make camp affordable so that other families may also receive assistance. From your account, you will also be able to set up a payment plan, pay in full, or submit a donation. We appreciate donations of any amount to this effort.
- To cancel your camp placement, please contact Christine Lutters, Assistant Camp Director, at clutters@shelburnefarms.org and include your camper’s full name and enrolled session. Cancellation policy: Cancellation notice given at least 30 days prior to your camp session will receive a full refund minus a $25 administrative fee. Cancellation notice given within 30 days of your camp session will not receive a refund.
We welcome your comments and questions!
- For questions about using our online application system (CampBrain), or payment/financial assistance, please email Mariah Hawkins, Education Program Administrator and Registrar, at registration@shelburnefarms.org.
- For general camp questions, please email Christine Lutters, Assistant Camp Director, at clutters@shelburnefarms.org.
- To support the Camp Scholarship Fund, please contact Sue Dixon at 802-985-0322.