YOUTH TOUR – June 21-25 2020

HELPFUL INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS & PARENTS

Once students have been selected to go to Washington, D.C., they will want to know “What should I take with me? What am I supposed to wear?” The following information will help answer these questions.

DATES OF TOUR: Youth Tour is Sunday, June 21 through Thursday, June 25, 2020. More than 43 other states and 1,700 other students and chaperones will take part in Youth Tour 2020, sponsored by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (www.NRECA.coop ).

SPONSORS: You are part of the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives (VMDAEC) Youth Tour delegation. VMDAEC is a trade association for 15 electric cooperatives in these three states. Your cooperative pays student expenses and make arrangements for travel from their cooperative or home to VMDAEC offices in Richmond or the Hyatt Hotel in Washington and back again.

TRAVEL: Some of our delegation will be traveling from Richmond to Washington and back via bus. Some will be traveling to Washington via car and joining the group at the hotel and will then travel by bus until we depart to come home. We will retain the same bus for the duration of the Youth Tour.

LODGING: Our delegation will be staying at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jeff Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202. The hotel’s main phone number is (703) 418-1234. If you need to call the hotel to reach your son or daughter, you will need to leave a message as we are out of the hotel most of each day. Another option is to ask call the Youth Tour Office at (703) 413-6808 and leave a message for your son/daughter or Andrew Vehorn, Youth Tour Director. Please indicate that you would like for your son or daughter (give their name and cooperative) to contact you as soon as they return to the hotel. Be sure to indicate when calling that your son or daughter is with the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware delegation. This will helps NRECA relay your message to us while we are in Washington. The Youth Tour office will be staffed until 11: 15 p.m. and messages are picked up when we return to the hotel. If it is an emergency, please indicate this when calling.

Students may share a room with up to two other delegates. It can be challenging to have multiple persons share a room, but we are only allowed a certain number of sleeping rooms for our group. Each delegate is asked to respect their roommates during the four nights in the hotel and help ensure everyone is ready to leave on time each morning. Chaperones will perf01m a room check each evening, with curfew no later than 11 p.m. Delegates may stay up after room check in the evening but must remain in their assigned room.

DRESS: The tour calls for casual attire and we will provide shirts for certain days, including Congressional visits on Wednesday, to be worn with khakis or dress pants. While this time of year in Washington is typically very hot, we suggest bringing a light jacket or sweater for the evening functions in case it gets cool. The most important item is comfortable shoes – we will be doing a lot of walking during the tour. Make sure to pack one good pair of walking shoes and sneakers or whatever you normally wear for casual times. The program schedule indicates the appropriate attire for each day and evening function. If a student is found to be in inappropriate clothing or shoes, they will be asked to make an alternate selection at the discretion of their chaperone.

RESIDENT NURSE: We’ll have two resident nurses on duty in our hotel throughout Youth Tour week. For emergencies, Arlington Urgent Care Center, 1311 S. Fem St., Arlington, VA 22202 is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday – Saturday and 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Sunday. Students with medical condition(s) that we should be aware of or who are required take medications at specific times, are asked to let their cooperative chaperone know. If a student needs a nurse at any time during the tour, they should let their chaperone or a Tour Director know this.

CHAPERONES: Adult chaperones from your cooperative will accompany the youth delegates at all times during the tour. Andrew Vehom and Dathie Washington are the Statewide Youth Tour Directors from VMDAEC. We are anticipating 56 youths this year and 19 full-time adult chaperones from the sponsoring cooperatives, plus Association staff. Furthermore, professional security guards are on duty on every hotel floor from 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. to ensure maximum security.

INFORMATION FOLLOWING’ CODE RED” EVENT: Should a catastrophic event occur in Washington, D.C. during Youth Tour week, VMDAEC will contact the headquarters office of each participating cooperative to advise of the Youth Tour group’s status, so please contact your cooperative for more information if you are not able to get through on one of the hotel phone lines: (703) 418-1234 Hyatt main desk or Youth Tour Office at (703) 413-6808. In the event of a “Code Red” situation, information will be posted at ww.nreca.coop and updated as warranted.

INSURANCE: Accident insurance is provided by the sponsoring electric cooperative through NRECA and includes $10,000 in benefits for death or dismemberment to help cover medical costs for injuries and illness occurring during the Youth Tour. It will not cover an accidental injury that occurred before the start of the Youth Tour. If an injury or illness requires hospitalization, the procedure to be followed is:

  1. Get a copy of the bill from the hospital or clinic and email to Dathie Washington at the VMDAEC office at [email protected] or mail to VMDAEC, 4201 Dominion Blvd, Glen Allen, VA 23060 so she can provide it to NRECA.
  2. NRECA will work with the insurance company to make sure the bill is paid.
  3. Chaperone will pick-up form from Youth Tour office to be used in filing a claim.
  4. If you receive additional bills from the hospital, contact Dathie Washington and she will work with the hospitals or clinic to get claim paid (sometime this takes longer than expected.)

WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU: Students should bring any prescription medications in properly labeled containers, as well as a copy of their health care and prescription cards. They may also wish to consider bringing sunscreen and, if needed, braces or joint wraps to provide extra support. When packing, please leave room in the suitcase to bring back mementos of the trip, including VMDAEC delegation t-shirts and other items.

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