The Salvation Army Northridge Community Church Continues to offer Children’s Day Camp thanks to 2021 Canadian Summer Jobs Funding.
The Salvation Army in Northridge offered a one week of summer day camp in July and one week in August thanks to the 2021 Canadian Summer Jobs funding – allowing them to hire three students to plan, prepare and execute the day camps for children in the community.
“This summer camp is only possible because of this government funding. Camp experience is invaluable, as it provides the space for our summer staff (and the youth volunteers they oversee), to build leadership skills and embrace character-building challenges while learning creative planning and organizational skills,” said Salvation Army Pastor Sandra Reid.
Member of Parliament Tony Van Bynen, Newmarket-Aurora, stopped in to visit the camp after expressing his joy in hearing Northridge had received funds through the Canada Student Jobs Program. MP Van Bynen took a tour and met with the students running the day camp and watched the children play.
“He expressed his happiness and excitement about seeing the children being able to socialize with peers in a safe environment while developing leadership skills,” said Pastor Sandra.
The camp is offered to children aged 5 to 11 years old and involves a variety of activities to keep kids moving and having fun. Each activity runs only 30 minutes including a sport, crafts, a game, snack time, nature exploration, Bible study and a water game. All the activities are done outdoors as much as possible.
Safety is the top priority at the camp as all the children are divided into cohorts of 10 kids and two supervisors, and each cohort stays separate all day. Along with the funding, the government also provided detailed instructions on how to keep campers safe, which Pastor Reid said was very helpful in program development.
“Parents are thrilled their children are able to attend camp this summer and socialize in person with other children in a fun and safe camp environment,” said Pastor Sandra.
“We found some of the children to be socially starving when they arrived, so its been so great to see them interact. There has been so much fear for a long time so now that some of the restrictions have lifted it’s so great to see the smiles on their faces and see them relax and have fun.”
To provide financial support to The Salvation Army, donations can be made online at www.salvationarmy.ca or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY, where donations can also be directed to a specific program or location.
