The Salvation Army Ottawa Citadel is Reaching Out to the Community Through KidsConnect Day Camp
Many of The Salvation Army churches across Ontario offer summer day camps for children to provide a safe place for them to come together, have fun with their friends and learn about the Bible.
One of these churches is Ottawa Citadel, which began their day camp called KidsConnect in the summer of 2022 and is attracting area families to participate.
This summer, the camp is being offered to children aged 6 to 12 years of age on a weekly basis for 4 weeks beginning July 10th through August 4th from 9 am to 3 pm each day.
The camp staff created a theme for each week, which is woven into the games and learning activities. The themes include Superheroes Camp, Holiday Camp, Olympic Camp, and Adventure Camp.
The camp cost is $125 a week and $5 for every extra child and includes a healthy lunch. Subsidies are available based on a sliding scale and household income.
“The camp is about creating connections with the community and having fun, learning about the Bible and playing some games and doing crafts around Bible stories. In the afternoons, its all about fun activities such as scavenger hunts and an escape room made by the staff,” said Ottawa Citadel Children and Youth Ministry Coordinator Kassandra Nelson. “On Fridays we do outdoor activities including water games and we run the cotton candy and popcorn machines.”
Kassandra says about 20 kids have registered for camp with many of them participating in more than one week of day camp.
“Camp really allows the kids to make friends and connect with each other and the staff. It’s important that they have a safe place to have fun,” said Kassandra.
18-year-old Katie is an assistant program director for Kids Connect Day Camp. She explains that everyday the children learn something new that is both connected to the camp theme and the Bible.
“Today the superhero was The Flash and they learned about helping people quickly which we connected to the Bible’s Good Samaritan story. The message was about helping others even if its not the easiest thing to do and not standing by when someone needs help,” said Katie. “On Monday our superheroes were The Avengers and we learned about teamwork.”
On the Friday of the first week of camp some young campers expressed how much they enjoyed the week.
Rebecca says it was really fun. “I like snack time the best cause I can talk to my friends the most. We played games and I really liked the game Fireball and we did arts and crafts, and our week was about superheroes.”
6-year-old Michaela says, “My favourite thing is when we made our superhero costumes and we had to act out a story.”
Ten-year-old Rowan says he’s attending all 4 weeks of camp this summer. “The cotton candy machine was my favourite thing. I also learned a lot about the Bible. We played games and this is the end of superhero week.”
Ottawa Citadel Corps Officer Brandi LeDrew says they see some families from camp attend church events and some of them will come to worship services as well.
The first year the camp was funded by The Salvation Army Innovation Grant and this year it was primarily funded by the church. Funding left over from last year’s innovation grant and Christmas Kettle donations also supported the day camp this summer.
To learn more about Ottawa Citadel KidsConnect day camp please visit https://ottawacitadel.com/ministries/youth-ministries/
By: Caroline Franks
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