summer camp

COVID camp closures

Camps across the country are cancelling their summer programs. (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/CampSqueah)

B.C. children will not be able to attend Camp Squeah this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)

Camp Squeah of Hope, B.C. has cancelled its 2020 camping season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a May 15 statement, camp director Rob Tiessen wrote, “In order to best ensure the health of our campers and staff, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020 summer camp session. This applies to all day and overnight camp programs, including Family Camp.”

Willowgrove guarantees camp programming this summer

Before COVID-19, southern Ontario not-for-profit Willowgrove offered summer camps, outdoor education and seasonal events in Ontario from its Willowgrove Day Camp and Outdoor Education Centre in Stouffville and Fraser Lake Camp in Bancroft. In order to maintain its mission but move its work online, Willowgrove has created Camp @ Home, a unique online camp experience that allows children and youth to have personal, genuine camp connections under the supervision of a live counsellor. Each day, campers log on from home for a three-hour condensed camp schedule.

Camp Squeah paddle-a-thon fundraiser reaches million-dollar mark

Participants in Camp Squeah’s 2019 paddle-a-thon enjoy pleasant weather on the water, raising funds for the camp’s summer bursary program. (Photo courtesy of Camp Squeah)

Rowers and paddlers in Camp Squeah’s annual paddle-a-thon reached their goal, raising over $51,000 on Sept. 21 and bringing the total over the past 21 years to just over $1 million. 

Nisbet reflects on 33 years of camping ministry

Campbell Nisbet (right) with his wife, Chris (second from right), and their four children. (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/HiddenAcresCamp)

After 33 years as the executive director of Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp, Campbell Nisbet is grateful for all the growth he has witnessed. Whether it is the trees he planted on the camp property or the spiritual maturing of young adult leaders he mentored, Nisbet sees it all as signs of God’s blessing. And he is deeply grateful.

A blessing from God

A gift to Chris and Campbell Nisbet to remember their years at Hidden Acres was a blanket made out of Campbell’s many camp T-shirts. (Photo by Roy Draper)

The Nisbet family sang the words of the ‘love chapter,’ I Corinthians 13, as a blessing at their farewell at Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp on July 13. Pictured from left to right: Campbell, Jessica, Rob, David, Rebecca and Chris. (Photo by Roy Draper)

The idea that Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp is a sacred space where God is at work came up over and over again at the farewell event for Campbell and Chris Nisbet, held on July 13 at the camp near Shakespeare, Ont.

 

From Kitchener-Waterloo to Kenya

Amanda Snyder is the co-founder of Camp Marafiki Pamoja. (Photo courtesy of Amanda Snyder)

Children at Camp Marafiki Pamoja get a little messy with some science experiments. (Photo courtesy of Amanda Snyder)

In addition to singing, playing games and learning, campers receive two meals. (Photo courtesy of Amanda Snyder)

‘They have changed my life,’ Amanda Snyder says of the people she has met in Nairobi. (Photo courtesy of Amanda Snyder)

A young woman is impacting the citizens of a community 13,000 kilometres away from her home in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.

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