At Camp Squeah, we care a great deal about our young adult staff. We believe that a community of staff that cares for one another and treats each other as Christ-like as possible creates a fertile environment for campers to be affected by God’s great love and good news.
To allow for this great change, we need the staff! What other greater and more common need arises for camps across Canada? It’s the same for us. One of the great initiatives that Squeah has implemented in the past number of years is the provision of a bursary for student staff attending post-secondary education. The fundraiser for this bursary is an annual event called the paddle-a-thon.
It’s a two-day adventure down the Fraser River from Hope to Fort Langley. Canoes, voyageurs and kayaks make the trek with a ground crew following and providing food along the way. Paddlers raise a minimum amount and go for thousands of dollars to support these young people whose lives are changing while God is changing lives through them. It’s fun, adventurous and of great value!
Elizabeth Hoock and Daniel Driedger are two staff who received bursaries last year and are thankful for this great event and initiative.
“The bursary I received allowed me to be part of the Quest program at Columbia Bible College, which has a huge focus on community and discipleship,” Hoock says. “I have had incredible opportunities to grow in my faith and have discovered how to put it into action. God is good, and I am so thankful for the bursary, which allowed me to have this incredible experience.”
“God has been absolutely changing my life, and I’ve grown so much!” Driedger says. “It’s been the most important time in my life and the fact that the bursary program had a major role in getting me there, that’s something special.”
There’s nothing I love more than watching God change the lives of people. And to be privileged to watch God do this through this great initiative and in our summer ministry is a joy beyond measure!
Tim Larson is summer program director and outdoor education coordinator at Camp Squeah in Hope, B.C.
For other stories in our Focus on Camping series, see:
Peace is possible
Making ripples
‘Raise the peace’
Looking back and looking up
The sound of the soul shifting
Transformed in the wilderness
Moments like these
Lend Bible camp your helping hand
Counsellor Eizabeth Hoock gives a camper a piggy-back ride at Camp Squeah. (Camp Squeah photo)
Counsellor Daniel Driedger escorts a young camper around Camp Squeah. (Camp Squeah photo)
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