After two Long Years Camp is Back!
For the first time in two years, all across Toronto, 40 kids woke up with the same thought, âIâm going to Camp today!â Today marks the first day of Scott Mission Camp 2022 – the first âregularâ camp season since the outbreak of COVID.
Families gathered at a parking lot in East Toronto this morning to prepare for the week. After registration, packing suitcases high in the truck, and greeting long-lost friends with high fives, the kids piled into the buses. After a few last-minute hugs, tears are wiped away (from kids’ and parentsâ faces), and the buses pulled away for a week-long adventure.
Their week will be full of adventure – as will the other sessions of SMC that will see more than 240 children and youth joining in on the fun this summer. Crafts, swimming, biking, campfires, running through forests, seeing stars at night, and hearing about Godâs love for each one of us. These are the experiences kids look forward to every year and have been craving.
The last two years have been difficult for children; a Sick Kids-led study found that 70.2% of school-age children reported deterioration in at least one area of mental health over the pandemic.1 Additionally, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic.2
Scott Mission Camp is as old as Scott Mission itself – 2022 will mark 81 years since the first summer of camp ministry. Weâve seen thousands of children experience the joy of Godâs creation, year after year, strengthened by the experience of Camp. We hear repeatedly from past campers that their week at SMC was the highlight of their summers – a respite from city life, a chance to breathe free, to grow closer to God, and to try new things.
More than ever, kids need the opportunity
to be kids!
Camp would not be an option for most of the families served by Scott Mission Camp. It costs more than $650 to provide a week at camp for each child – out of the question for budgets already being tested by rising costs all around. The generous support of donors provides more than 95% subsidy – putting the cost of camp within reach of all families.
Scott Mission Camp
By the numbers
240 + campers, ages 8 to 20. (As a precaution, Camp 2022 is being run at half capacity)
Up to 35 + youth attend the Foundation Leaders program each summer.
Dozens more kids are reached each year through our City Youth Summer Day Programs
6 Days x 6 Sessions of fun. 5 sessions of Camp for ages 8-14 and 1 for Youth 15-17.
You can support this invaluable program, making kidsâ and parentsâ dreams come true, by donating toward the Camp program here: www.scottmission.com/lovecamp
1 âImpact of COVID-19 on Children, Youth and Men” https://www.sickkids.ca/en/news/archive/2021/impact-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-child-youth-mental-health/.
2 âChildren from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more vulnerable” https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2022/hl/bgrd/backgroundfile-223213.pdf.
