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- Giving Tuesday is November 29th
- Ontario Parks Makes Tripping Director Happy!
- Try Out Scavenger Hunt - There are Great Prizes!
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Giving Tuesday Theme for 2022 is Together We Give
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The other day we were asked why Giving Tuesday is on a Tuesday. Great question!
First, Giving Tuesday is a day that encourages people to do good by supporting those charities that do good in their community. Tuesday was chosen because Friday and Monday were already spoken for! Black Friday and Cyber Monday are events that are focused on acquiring stuff, while Giving Tuesday focuses on giving back to the community.
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Giving Tuesday presents opportunity for charities like Camp Kawartha to raise badly needed funds that help advance our mission of fostering stewardship. It is a world-wide day dedicated to focusing on giving rather than buying…a selfless day.
The theme this year – Together We Give – speaks to collective action and how impactful donations can be when given in numbers. Your generosity can help Camp Kawartha in many ways and it’s so easy to do!
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We draw your attention to two specific needs. Our Summer Camp Subsidy Fund and Outdoor Education Subsidy Fund, both provide support to those families facing financial challenges, helping children attend and enjoy a summer camp experience or participate with their peers in a class trip. Giving to these Funds is so impactful.
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Dear Camp Kawartha,
Thank you so much for letting me come to camp this year. It was the best time of my life. I really loved swimming, boating, ropes, and archery, but I really just loved everything about camp. I really, really hope I can come back for more fun next summer. Thank you for helping my mom and dad so I could come!!
-From a Subsidy Summer Camper
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Ontario Parks Supports Our Tripping Program! |
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Ontario Parks representatives contacted us recently to offer some new and slightly used camping equipment.
We were wowed by how many tents, sleeping pads, chairs and other camping equipment they offered! This will not only help us enhance our out-tripping programming, but the equipment will be a big help as we teach younger children the joys of camping on evening trips to our Range area.
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Summer Camp has several tripping opportunities for youth from 11 to 17 years. Visit our website to learn more and see about enrolling your child in an exciting wilderness trip. You know the equipment will be first rate!
We thank Ontario Parks for their generous support!
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An Exciting New Feature - Hot Tents! |
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What is a hot tent? It is a tent with a small woodstove that stays warm even when the temperature drops. Camp Kawartha recently installed three large wall tents, complete with a wooden floor and a woodstove on our Range area. Each tent is large enough to sleep 8 to 10 people. Campers and visitors will be cozy and comfortable under a star lit sky, as they experience the magic of camping in all seasons! |
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Our Peterborough Museum Exhibition Continues & So Does Our Scavenger Hunt! |
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You can win some great prizes by entering our Scavenger Hunt! Just answer these six questions and send your answers to Susan by December 4th ([email protected]) and you will be entered into the draw for a prize pack from the Camp Store or a prize pack from the Peterborough Museum & Archives.
Here are the questions...
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1. Name the only woman who gave birth at Camp Kawartha. (Hint…you can find the answer in our exhibition at the Museum!)
2. Name our current Summer Camp Director.
3. How long has the Camp’s Summer Camp program been running – 90 years; 100 years; 110 years?
4. What is the title of the Camp Kawartha exhibition at the Peterborough Museum & Archives?
5. What is the theme of the exhibition after Camp Kawartha’s is done?
6. Does the Museum have a summer camp program?
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The winner will be announced in our December newsletter. If more than one person or family gets all the questions correctly answered, we will draw a name from the boss’ hat to decide the winner!
Our exhibition about the history of Summer Camp is still on and runs until December 4th at the Peterborough Museum on Armour Hill. Be sure to visit before it closes!
Now, have some fun and go scavenge!
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Are you up for festive hot chocolate, music, a delicious meal, and stories? Sounds like a great evening! Put aside Tuesday, December 13th from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. and join us at our main site 1010 Birchview Road in Douro-Dummer Township! Celebrate with us the many accomplishments of Camp Kawartha over the past year.
Our guest speaker will be Thomas Unrau, Director of Community Conservation at the Kawartha Land Trust (KLT). He will describe the amazing work KLT is doing to protect and conserve precious lands and provide a glimpse of their plans for engaging youth in land stewardship.
Connect with friends, meet new ones, and learn more about a year in the life of Camp Kawartha!
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In Memory of a Dear Friend -- Dave Hyland |
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For many years Dave Hyland from Hyland Tree Care was a close friend of the Camp Kawartha family. Whenever there was a danger tree, Dave would show up and remove the hazard. He often did so at a reduced charge or at no charge. His children have attended Camp.
Sadly, Dave passed away suddenly this past week. His hearty laugh, positivity, and kindness will be sorely missed.
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Executive Director Jacob with Dave Hyland (on the right). |
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In many ways he was like the trees he loved so dearly. He always sought to do more good than harm, to give more than he took, and to make the land around him more rich and vibrant. Dave was helping us to regenerate our forest and we’ll be creating a pocket forest in his name.
We miss you already Dave.
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Summer Camp Registration is OPEN
& Spaces are Filling QUICKLY!
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On Friday, December 2nd, at 3:00 p.m., join us for an Open House at Camp Kawartha’s award-winning Environment Centre.
Enjoy hot cider with fresh baked goodies and do some Holiday shopping with a great selection of items from our Camp Store. Participate in fun games and activities, and even become a bird whisperer as you watch a chickadee land in your hand to take a seed! And don’t forget to tour the Centre to learn about its amazing environmental features.
MPP David Smith and members of the Camp Kawartha team will also be on hand to thank the Ontario Trillium Foundation for their generous support at a critical time! With the help of the Community Building Fund, we were able to weather the impact of the pandemic, create new programming and increase our on-line presence. We’ll provide an update on all the amazing initiatives undertaken by Camp Kawartha over the past year and celebrate this important collaboration that helped us emerge from such a challenging time.
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Enjoy a Winter School Visit at the EC! |
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Join us at the Environment Centre this year for a day visit that will engage your students and bring learning to life!
Our day visits offer a variety of programs to choose from that utilize hands-on exploration, experiments, storytelling, drama and games, that tie into your classroom learning and meet requirements from the Ontario Curriculum.
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Sign Up For Nature School Programs! |
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In our Environment Centre Nature School, we strive to foster the development of character and friendships, a deep respect for nature, and a desire to take care of our beautiful home – the Earth. We learn through Outdoor Skills, Nature Studies, Sensory and Awareness Activities, Games, Imaginative Play, Exploration, Arts, Projects, and plenty of time immersed in direct experience of Nature in all conditions
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Nature Showcase: Regeneration (with a little help) |
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The Derecho in May pummelled Camp Kawartha. Entire sections of the forests were flattened! We know that nature’s way is neither good nor bad, it just is, but to we humans, it is hard to see such damage and not be impacted by the loss of such beautiful trees.
It’s just not the visual gaps, the missing trees in the forest, we also know that such events affect wildlife – they can be killed or displaced and that can throw the ecosystem out of balance even further.
There are a couple of approaches for forest recovery after a weather event like the Derecho. The first is the forest can be left to regenerate on its own, taking decades and decades to fully recover and re-establish itself. We did note before too long after the event the emergence of new growth. Small oaks popped up, some maple, and it was amazing to walk one of our trails every other day and see grasses and other plants emerging so quickly.
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We did remove many of the fallen and damaged trees which was necessary to protect our guests, the forest, and the habitat that remains. Their removal was principally for safety purposes but also to reduce fire risk and to allow the new growth to have optimal growing opportunity.
As the landscape slowly regenerates, where trees once dominated, and may do so again in 50 or 100 years, we know that unique, diverse grasses and shrubs will appear that weren’t found in that location before. Ecological succession may make parts of the forest very different from what we now know. And while losing portions of the forest is hard, we know that this succession is neither good nor bad, it is just nature’s way.
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The second approach is to help the forest. Human intervention can help nature when done with thought and planning, and so we plan to plant seedlings, bushes, grasses, even develop pocket forests, and thereby diversify the makeup of the forest. This will encourage different birds, mammals, and insects to frequent the forest because their needs for food sources and habitat are being met.
Time heals all wounds, and the fierce forces of nature are nothing new for forests, but these can be mitigated by the equally powerful force of natural regeneration and human-inspired renewal.
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Camp Kawartha is an accredited, award-winning, not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to the promotion of the highest standard of programming, with a particular focus on outdoor environmental awareness, outdoor and environmental education and stewardship. Registered Charity # 12453 9214 RR0001
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705-652-3860 1-866-532-4597
campkawartha.ca
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