YMCA Camp Loma Mar — Local services in Los Altos

My daughter had a horrible experience at the YMCA summer camp at Loma Mar. When I dropped her off, she was excited to spend her first time at sleep away camp doing fun activities and making new friends. When I picked her up, she was in tears and as we drove home, she told me details about the verbal abuse, threatening behavior, and dismissive attitude from her camp counselor.

My daughter and her friend who attended camp with her shared that their camp counselor yelled at them, unreasonably limited their time for using the restroom and showering, threatened to write all cabin members up without just cause, permitted physical and verbal abuse from another camper in their cabin, dismissed their concerns for their own safety in the presence of this misbehaving cabin mate, told all the girls they were “the worst cabin ever”, denied the girls snacks while eating her own in front of them, and did not permit the girls to fully explore the grounds as other campers were allowed to do.

They expressed that the negative treatment from the counselor was unwarranted and not a result of misbehavior on their part. In addition, this mistreatment was across the board; everyone in the cabin was denied the same opportunities. Based on their observations, it appeared that campers from other cabins might have had better experiences.

We contacted YMCA leadership and expressed our concerns. Their response lacked empathy, accountability, and any real sense of urgency in making sure other campers were not exposed to the inappropriate behavior of this counselor. If you’re considering sleep away camp, I strongly suggest you AVOID the YMCA. Whether it’s poor vetting, ineffective training, inexperienced leadership, or something else, it’s not worth the risk of the potential harm...

Used to be great. Been coming for 27 years...Now no smoking camp...Really??? We have gotten calls from friends asking if were going. No were not. Sad. Kids have made life long friends as well as grandkids. We abided by the rules and smoked behind dumpster by propane tanks as told......Yes some people complained about smoke on clothes when sharing cabins. PLEASE YOU HAVE AN ENTIRE OTHER VILLAGE YOU CAN PUT PEOPLE IN SO NOONE HAS TO SHARE A CABIN!!! I don't know why this camp has become so difficult. All the other camps Im looking at allow smoking in a designated area. The topper was no dapping allowed!!! R u kidding me!!! This is sounding like discrimination. White folks get off ur high horse. And P S Im WHITE...YMCA be careful you r bordering on inappropriate behavior. So sad we are not allowed to participate any longer when...

Camp naturalists are great. The program is good though they could use more free time outdoors. I have one star for two reasons. The facilities are absolutely horrible. Our can stank of disinfectant so badly I became ill overnight and vomited. They moved us to another cabin the second night which smelled ok. And I could then sleep. Thank goodness. But the windows are broken. The beds are really really bad. The bathrooms are in bad shape and not even a hook and the whole thing was really dirty. I honestly would have preferred pitching a tent on the field. Second is food. Seriously please stop talking to kids like the only thing they can eat is pizza. Stop serving cereal and wonder bread and juice. Let them have tea and healthier option with some protein. Even the yoghurt...