Edmonton woman reflects on positive impact of Tim Hortons summer camp

It’s Tim Hortons Camp Day, the biggest annual fundraiser for the Tim Hortons Camp Foundation.

It’s a day when restaurant owners donate all proceeds from coffee sales to help send underprivileged kids to summer camp. In 2018, Camp Day generated $13 million for the foundation.

Julie Nguyen was born and raised in Edmonton, and says she was lucky to have been able to attend Tim Hortons Camp five years in a row.

“It really shaped who I am by giving me really good life skills,” said Nguyen.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It really shaped who I am by giving me really good life skills," said Nguyen.

Each summer, Nguyen would be sent to camp in Ontario for free with a group of campers she still keeps in contact with. Now in her fourth year at the University of Alberta, Nguyen says she demonstrates the skills taught at camp as an on-campus volunteer.

READ MORE: You can drink up to 25 cups of coffee a day without harming your heart: study

Tim Hortons is seen as being a leader in youth development. The camps are as much about outdoor summer fun as they are about helping young people overcome tough social circumstances.

“One of our goals is ultimately to cut the cycle of poverty,” said Dylan Moran.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "One of our goals is ultimately to cut the cycle of poverty," said Dylan Moran.

Moran, a camp coordinator based out of the Seven Sisters Falls camp location in Manitoba, says they do so by “targeting programs to create leadership, to focus on resilience and allow our campers to become leaders in their communities when they go back.”

Moran says the kids are educated about financial literacy, post-secondary schools, as well as their mental and physical health.

“People don’t know how long that one cup of coffee goes,” said Nguyen, adding that being a Tim Hortons camper is a memory she will always cherish.

 “It really does help a lot of disadvantaged youth. It really does give us those life skills that we don’t necessarily get in our every day life.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter:  "It really does help a lot of disadvantaged youth. It really does give us those life skills that we don't necessarily get in our every day life."

Each year, approximately 180 kids from the city of Edmonton go to Tim Hortons camp. Over the past four decades, more than 275,000 campers have attended at no cost to their families.

Watch below: Featured stories from Tim Hortons Day Camps 

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• Jennifer Valentyne kicks off Greater Toronto Day at Scarborough Tim Hortons

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