In 2018, Meghan Phillips, DJ Waldow, and a fellow Sacramento area parent set out to fix something that frustrated them every spring: finding summer camps. Getting it right — the right fit for their kids, their budget, their schedule — was harder than it should have been. The same exhausting cycle year after year: Google searches that went nowhere, spreadsheets that never felt complete.

So they built Simple Summers: a searchable, filterable directory of summer camps in the Sacramento area, designed to do the hard work so parents didn't have to.

Over the next several years, it grew into the go-to resource for Sacramento area families — hundreds of camps, thousands of sessions, and a community of parents who came to rely on it.

I'm one of those parents.

My name is Melissa Strong, and I took over Simple Summers in 2026. This platform made summers better for my family, and I'm here to do the same for yours.

Today, Simple Summers is growing, connecting our community of camps and families, and hopefully helping lives thrive!

Please reach out if you have opportunities for our community!

Smile, it's simple.

– Melissa

Questions/comments: Email us at hello@simplesummers.com