WINNIPEG — Manitoba has a stronger connection than ever to Tim Hortons Camp Day this year. The Tim Horton Children’s Foundation will open its first new camp since 2002 about 100 kilometres from Winnipeg within Whiteshell Provincial Park.
The new $19.2-million camp opens June 24 and will welcome close to 4,000 kids from low-income families each year.
It will primarily be used by kids enrolled in the Youth Leadership Program in the summer. Campers will have an opportunity to return for five years and challenge themselves through canoe trips, team-building exercises and group workshops.
“Everything is about building confidence and building responsibility and caring individuals,” says Carrie Patterson, director of camp operations.
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The Tim Horton Children’s Foundation first came up with the idea of building a camp in Manitoba in 2008. Construction began near Sylvia Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park near Pinawa in late 2013.
Patterson remembers visiting the undeveloped site for the first time.
“It was all bush, and so we were trying to envision this beautiful camp that 200 kids at any given time would be at. Fast forward five years and now we have a main lodge, three bunkhouses, 12 yurts and a wellness centre.”
There will be 22 yurts when construction is complete. A combination of seasonal yurts and cottage-like bunkhouses will make the camp operational year-round.
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In addition to the buildings, a lot of planning has gone into developing the programs.
Justin Cholette is one of several program co-ordinators who has spent weeks at a time over the last few years exploring the area, scouting canoe routes and overnight camp locations.
“Teams would travel for five or six days and they would come back and report and log what route worked, what didn’t work,” explains Cholette.
Kayleigh Howell attended her first Tim Horton Camp as a child and today she’s one of the leaders.
“Coming to camp really brought me out of my shell,” says Howell. “I was super shy the first time I went to camp, but every year I grew as a person and became a leader that I didn’t think I could be.”
Camp Whiteshell was designed with first-class amenities, foundation officials say, from its food services to staff, accommodations, furniture and even the mattresses.
“We want kids to walk through these gates and say, ‘Wow, someone would do this for me. Someone would invest all of this,’ ” says Patterson. “It’s a way for us to show them they are worth the absolute best, to never settle for less than the best. To pursue their dreams and do excellent things in their future.”
The camp’s year-round facilities mean 2,000 extra kids will be able to experience Camp Whiteshell each year. That means more children than ever before from communities in Manitoba will have the opportunity to go to camp.
Find more information about Tim Horton Children’s Foundation Camps on their website.
A community open house will be held at Camp Whiteshell on July 5 from 1-4 p.m.
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