Our Kids Member Report

Glen Herbert
Editor/Writer, Our Kids Media
April, 2020

During an online campfire from Camp Wenonah last week, Jason Monteith said that “one of the things I love about camp—and I bet you’ve found the last couple weeks that one way that this has been a lot like camp—is that you’ve really had to challenge yourself to do things differently, and maybe do things you haven’t done before, or do things in a different way.”

And you have. Camp communities are coming together online, keeping connected, engaged, and finding lots of reasons to create, smile, and learn. From daily craft activities, to online campfires, the responses that camps have made are emblematic of what the camp experience is all about: challenge, maybe doing things you haven’t done before. Medeba instituted a daily challenge. 4Cats took its spring workshops online, with free delivery of materials. Glen Bernard Camp hosted a Virtual Vista.

As the appetite for all forms of engagement is understandably very high, now is the time for families to absorb information, and we’ll work doggedly to get the word out about your brand and offerings. To that end, we’ve launched a Virtual Programs guide, the first part of our new Virtual Library, to be updated throughout the COVID-19 crisis (and beyond). Just as we promoted camps during the Ontario school strike, we’re ideally positioned to promote virtual camps and programs during this time and we’ll actively do so through email, partners, and social media. We encourage everyone to participate. Simply add your programs through the Our Kids Control Panel and you'll be included in promotions. Starting next week, we'll expand to a complete Virtual Library featuring the creative activities and live videos camps are sharing with their communities, highlighting the best in regular, up-to-date emails to our subscribers.

Ultimately, there are great stories that need to be told, and important programs that need to find their audiences. “As camp professionals,” writes Tom Rosenberg, president of the ACA, “we are experts at building optimism and community in the face of fear and uncertainty. Our experiences teach resilience, determination, kindness, and teamwork.” Camps—as ever, though especially now—can provide a model for how to live through this crisis. To quote the late, great Jack Pearse, “if it helps demonstrate the way we should live, then it’s worth keeping.” Even online, camp is worth keeping. To quote Pearse again: “Lead on counsellor!”