I have been volunteering to direct and run a VBS summer camp for kids in Toronto since 1997. A few mothers and I became concerned that our teenaged children between the age of 13 – 15 years old were just sleeping in everyday till noon and hanging around in the house not doing much during the summer months. However, It was not the teens' fault that they were sleeping in and not doing much because :
1. They were at an awkward age. Between the age of 13- 16, they were too old to go to camps which were mainly for kids 12 and under.
2. They were too young to be hired for summer jobs due to their young age and lack of work experience.
We thought if our kids were simply hanging around, then we could get them in one place and let them hang out together and do something fun and learn a few things.
So I approached the minister of a community church and proposed a summer camp for the neighbourhood children. With Pastor David K.'s blessings, we started with 5 mothers, and a dozen of kids ( our own kids plus a few neighborhood kids) and in 1997 started the first summer camp in the Agincourt - Scarborough community.
The main objective of the summer camp was to provide a fun experience and a quality program for the neighbourhood children. Another objective was to provide work experience for the teenagers so that they could accumulate valuable and employable skills which would assist them to land that first job that was so difficult for young people.
In the subsequent summer camps, I directed the camp program, and at the same time actively recruited highschool and university students as volunteers and trained them to be camp leaders for the following years. The VBS/ summer camp started as a one week program, but the teens loved it so much that they wanted to volunteer and do it for two weeks the followinjg year. After the second year, the teens wanted to increase to three and then four weeks, working all for free!
Today, the Living Stone Summer Camp at Kennedy and Steeles, Toronto, is not a one week event but is a 7- 8 consecutive weeks camp providing a full day program to children aged 5- 14. The camp has served hundred of children in the community since its first year. Since then we applied and obtained federal government funding each year and has been able to employs 6-8 full time students and provides work experience to about twenty – thirty teenagers each year. The majority of students who have volunteered there are usually aged 13- 17. After a couple years of volunteering and gaining experience, they could apply to be paid camp counsellors. Because of this positive experience of working with young children, a few volunteers discovered their interest and talents of working in education and made their career choices to become teachers.
Being accepted into the faculty of education in Ontario university is quite an accomplishment and is prized and celebrated by the applicants and their parents. I am proud to say that because of the training and experience provided by the Living Stone Summer Camp, all three university students who were hired as directors of the VBS/ summer camp and another camp leader were accepted into the faculty of education in various Ontario Universities and are now full fledge licensed teachers teaching in Ontario public schools! There were many other volunteers and camp leaders also got jobs related to education in the Ontario school system or in other professional fields due to their work experience at the camp.
The Living Stone Summer Camp has matured and is well established to the point that it no longer requires my supervision and assistance. After fifteen years, the parents in the community look forward to its opening every July and start registering their children in April.
As for me, I have moved on and have been invited to start a new camp for children in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, and this is where I have been this week and will be there next week.
R.T. Waterloo
July 21, 2012
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