CAMPERSHIP

Definition of CAMPERSHIP: Funding provided to a child or teenager to help with or entirely cover the expenses of attending camp.

If camp director Vanessa Doak is adamant about one thing, it’s that everyone should have the chance to go to camp.

“No child should be precluded from the experience of summer camp due to financial means,” she says, adamantly.

Doak, who grew up in the Toronto community housing, was sponsored through summer camp her entire childhood and the impact it had on her is undeniable. (Read more about that here.)

“If I had been precluded from attending camp due to my financial situation, I don’t even want to know where I would be today. I can’t imagine my life without it,” she says. “Next to my family, I don’t have a bigger love in my life than camp – I’m emotionally, financially, and psychologically invested in camp and I want every child who can benefit from the experience to be able to feel that too.”

Before moving to BC, Doak did a tremendous amount of fundraising in Toronto for campership. When she relocated to Squamish she worked with a local camp where, in addition to running the leader in training (LIT) program, she ran with the campership program. There she created fundraising initiatives that would send hundreds of children to summer camp, which also included two fully funded spaces per local school for children who would otherwise be unable to attend for as many years as they chose to go.

Now that she is running Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds, Doak is more invested in campership than ever. Throughout the year she campaigns tirelessly, through speaking engagements and educational outreach to raise the funds necessary to provide similar access to her own programs in the Sea to Sky Corridor.

“Camp with kids has something of a ripple effect. You may only see a child for one summer, or you may see them for 10,” she says. “You never know what that experience is going to do for a child. Once they leave and go back home you don’t know what their year is going to be like; you don’t know how the many lessons from camp will impact their lives. What we do know is that the ripple effect will spread far and wide due to the transformative experiences shared in our programs.

“We always say: ‘Take camp home with you.’ Ultimately, that’s our greatest wish, because if a child takes camp home, then you’ve already given back and our entire world will be better for it.”

If you are interested in learning more about the campership program or would like to donate to help make camp a possibility for a child in financial need, please email: healthyhearts@telus.net OR you may add a campership donation to your ‘cart’ at the time of registration. You may also log on to your account at any time thereafter to make a donation as well.

Thank you in advance for helping in our quest to ‘Changing the world one leader at a time”!