A group of 44 mostly at-risk and vulnerable children arrived at Camp Sunrise on Monday with the help of the Salvation Army Ridge Meadows Ministries.
The group of 7-to-12-year-olds attended the camp that ran from July 16 to 20 in Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast.
“Several of the kids have never even been outside of Maple Ridge,” explained Belinda Carlaw, public relations coordinator with the local Salvation Army Ministry.
“For quite a few of the kids, these are the holidays they don’t get,” she said.
A bus provided by the Salvation Army takes the children to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal where camp staff meet them. Then the children are walked onto the ferry. The camp is only a five minute walk from the ferry terminal in Gibsons.
At the end of the week a representative from the Salvation Army and some parents take a mini-van to the terminal and a ferry to camp to meet with the staff and see how the children’s week went. Then the children are walked back onto the ferry and brought back to the Ministry in Maple Ridge by bus.
The week included canoeing, archery, zip-lining, fishing and swimming.
Names of families and children that could benefit from the camp are supplied to the Salvation Army Ministry by local schools.
There were three other Salvation Army Ministries that sent children to the camp for the same week.
The cost of the camp is $320 and families pay, depending whether they are on income assistance, a portion of that amount.
“We ask that parents pay that much. However we realize, that’s the wonderful thing about the Salvation Army, that there are parents that can’t pay the full amount,” explained Bee Schroeder, Sonia’s Cradle and community ministries with the Ridge Meadows branch.
“We ask parents to try to at least pay one third if they can’t pay the full amount,” she said adding that they get some subsidies from their divisional headquarters, then they fundraise to pay the balance of it off.
Recently they held a trivia night specifically to raise money for the camp.
A teen camp for those aged 13-to-18-years will be taking place in August.
“All kids deserve to go to camp whether their parents can afford it or not,” said Schroeder.
“I remember when I was a kid I went to camp once and I still have memories of it.”
For more information contact Belinda Carlaw at 604-463-8296 or go to saridgemeadows.com.