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Camp Huron Sings!

While the camp has suspended operations for another summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a small staff team has been living and working onsite, getting everything ready for our return to overnight programs for children and youth in 2022. In addition to tending our grounds and welcoming visitors for day trips and overnight stays we have started to record some of our favorite songs from daily worship and our weekly Eucharists.

Last week we released our version of Like a Rock. Take a listen here:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3pbdkFOuNWbHWT9uhsN7Pu…

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/…/like-a-rock-single/1576308634

Keep listening for more soon and watch for an invitation to participate in our recording of Let it Rain, produced and engineered by Oscar Abley, (zeclapoke@gmail.com)

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Dear Campers

To Our Campers:    

We are so very sorry to tell you that Camp Huron will not be able to run our sleep-over camp for another summer.

We were very hopeful we could return and keep everyone safe.  We thought of all the ways we could do this that you already know about – staying six feet apart, wearing masks when we can’t, and washing our hands. We even thought that maybe a cabin group could be a bubble.

That would mean that you would only have your small cabin group to play with. All those awesome, wonderful times when the whole camp runs through the main compound, swims at the beach, gathers together for worship, campfire, meals,  and camp entertainment would have to change so much or not happen at all. Visiting each other during rest hour would no longer be allowed. If one or two of us got sick we might have to send everyone home early.

As hard as we thought about all of this and learned from the scientists and experts and said over and over, “what if we tried this?”, we could not come up with a way to keep you and the staff safe.

For those who were looking forward to the LIT program, the hike cannot happen for the first years nor can shadowing and placement for second years. It is scary to think about next year without this program – believe it or not campers help teach our future staff all about what it means to care for you, so we are working on what we can do to get them ready for next summer.

We know this is so very hard to hear, especially now that all over social media, the news and the papers, everyone is talking about summer camps being open.  But in all this excitement not many are remembering that it has not been made official by the government.  No one is talking about the incredible amount of work and all  the extra rules that will have to be followed, or that lots of camps have already closed or like Camp Huron, will decide to close.

Last year, I said that I was certain that we would once again gather around the campfire  and I regret that this will not be the case this season. However, I never ever regret being hopeful – every time I look at our campfire circle, I imagine it full of all of us, stomping feet, laughing, and singing and then hushing, sitting close and leaning in to hear a story, or  soft guitar playing. I feel the warmth of the campfire and see your shining faces and the flicker of flames in your eyes.

 That campfire seems very far away now. We will get to that campfire again.

We wait and wait and hope and dream for another summer at camp. Thank-you for being someone who hopes and dreams – thank you for believing in camp.

If you want to ask questions or talk to me, let me know.  I can be contacted at 519-434-6893 ext 217 or contact@camphuron.ca

Your friend, Gerry

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Sad News – Camp Suspended for 2021

Dear Campers, Staff, Families and Friends and Supporters of Camp Huron:

It is with heavy hearts that we announce that we will not be running our  overnight programs for children and youth for a second summer, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are so sorry and so very disappointed.

If you follow us on social media or visit our website, you will see posts about our hopes and plans to gather once again this summer. As a long-time member of the Ontario Camps Association, Camp Huron has benefited from the wisdom and  expertise of camp professionals across the province and beyond, advocating for both financial support from  the government and approval to safely operate overnight summer camps. The OCA campaign continues to ramp up – there are now daily posts, stories, interviews and writing campaigns over multiple communications platforms.

On Sunday May 16, Mr. Ford commented in an interview at a vaccination event that summer camps would be given approval for operation. From our perspective this was not an official announcement nor was it backed up with Public Health approved guidelines that need to be in place for this to happen.

It is however becoming clear to us that even if permission is formally granted, the changes to our predominantly  week-long format with so many camp-wide activities like swims, campfires, clubs, games, and worship,  not to mention eating together,  will severely alter our relaxed atmosphere and homey sense of community.  

Therefore, even if overnight camps for children and youth are given official permission to operate, Camp Huron now joins the increasing number of  camps that will not.  

The good news is that the site will not be closed!

Building upon last season’s Day Trips and Stayovers, we will once again welcome visitors to enjoy our beach, sit in shady spots for picnics,  watch sunsets and marvel at the starry night sky. A much smaller staff will be employed to maintain the grounds, beautify the site, say prayers in our outdoor chapel, and safeguard our corner of God’s wondrous creation, as we  tend the spark of camp spirit and fan the flames of  a Christ-light that will shine in and around this holy place and guide us back to the camp programs we know and love next year, next year, next year.

Peace, Gerry

Please keep watching for updates and do not hesitate to contact me for more information.

gerryadam@diohuron.org  contact@camphuron.ca        519-434-6893 ext 217

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Plan for Camp- An Online Event for Ontario Overnight Camps, April 12

We continue to very slowly consider what plans, procedures and program adaptations will need to be in place for the summer. The Ontario Camps Association has been working tirelessly on our behalf and this summer’s field guide should be ready soon. We remain confident that if camps are permitted to reopen we can prepare for a return to our beloved camp.  There will be lots of work to do once permission has been granted, especially to increase our registrations – word of mouth does wonders so  we ask all of you to  invite parish children and youth, neighbours, family and friends to  consider signing up ASAP  The Ontario Camps Association needs our help! Camp Huron is a part of a 400-strong membership. Because we are a smaller (but big-hearted) operation, and due to the support of committed donors and our being an outreach ministry of the Diocese of Huron we have been able to weather the incredible challenges so many have faced during this pandemic. Several member camps have already closed permanently and others will not make it through another season without campers. What a loss of such an important formational time for our young ones, leadership and employment opportunities for teens and sacred, storied outdoor space for one and all.
Please join us and others on Monday April 12  at 7:30 pm for a YouTube Premiere event hosted by @OCACamps! This is our chance to let the greater community understand the importance and significance of the summer camp experience for our children and youth! Visit this link to attend    bit.ly/planforcamp 
Consider sharing this invitation with your extended family, friends,  colleagues, parish and camp alumni that you know. Help us to kindle the spark, fan the flame and shine the light back to summer camps! Please follow both Camp Huron and the Ontario Camps Association on social media, liking and sharing posts whenever you can and using #planforcampWith a hopeful heart, looking forward to our return to camp, 
Gerry
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A New Year is Beginning to Unfold!

While so much seems to be up in the air and the current lockdown bears down on all of us, we are taking hopeful steps into 2021 by making plans for this summer. Although overnight camps remain closed by order of the Provincial Government, our Ontario Camps Association has never stopped working on our behalf – advocating for the reopening of camps and creating a field guide that will give us a road-map to planning and running a safe, healthy summer for our children and youth. Hiring for this summer has started and we hope to have the registration form available in late February – early March. Please check back for more updates and do feel free to contact us with questions or concerns.

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Our logo

If a picture is worth a thousand words here are a few that come to mind as we present our new logo!

Camp Huron – Welcome to Wonder!  

Camp Huron logo - circle containing three layers of waves in front of a cabin, three pine trees and three stars in the sky

Beneath a deep blue starry sky, a wooden cabin sits gently on the land by the wavy waters of Lake Huron, amongst  fir trees that seem to whisper, “you are home”. 

Peek through its tiny window – just imagine the people, possibilities and adventures waiting for you!

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We have a new name and a new look!

We have been working throughout this past year to consider ways to share our camp story, recruiting new  families and drawing our circle wider and wider and wider.

A decision to rebrand led to the development of our new name, Camp Huron, which encompasses our beautiful lakefront site, the county in which we are located and our 75 years of outreach to and with children, youth and their families in our Diocese of Huron.

We are thankful for the work of  Camp Council members Julie Ryan, Frances Cutt, Robin Gingerich and Julia Marchesan with consulting by Julia Cutt and Modern Marketers LTD, a student group in Advanced Marketing Strategy through Western’s Community Engaged Learning.