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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
'I feel privileged to have gone' to camp
Single mom couldn't afford to send son
Joe Bryksa / Winnipeg Free Press Dane Roy, 13, says camp was �really, really awesome.� Mom Chasity Spade couldn�t afford to send him without the Sunshine Fund.
When asked what he'd be doing if he wasn't going to camp this summer, Dane Roy, 13, shrugs his shoulders.
"Hanging out with friends," he says with a laugh.
Dane lives at home with his mom, Chasity Spade, and five-year-old sister, and with the help of the Sunshine Fund, this summer he ventured 34 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg to Camp Y, where he participated in activities that went beyond hanging out.
"We played the hunger games," said Roy, explaining the game, based on the novel-turned-movie, was only one of many campers played in the woods. "We went zip-lining, and I was not even scared," he said.
Aside from enjoying days packed with adventures, Roy seized the opportunity to make new friends.
"I didn't know anyone when I went, but I made friends; I have their phone numbers," he said.
Roy will enter Grade 8 in September and is hoping to play football when the season starts. When not at school or on the field, he keeps himself busy with homework, video games and meeting up with friends in his neighbourhood.
For Spade, the week her son spent at camp gave her a break from taking care of two children as a single mom, and she would not have had that opportunity if the Sunshine Fund wasn't available to her family.
"Being a single mom, I would not have been able to afford it," said Spade, who works with disabled youth during the school year.
"I am laid off until September," she said.
"I never went to camp as a kid, and I am glad he has the chance."
Spade hopes her daughter will have the chance, too, when she gets old enough to spend a week away.
In the meantime, both Spade and her daughter will have to take Roy's word on the fact that camp was a fun and unforgettable experience.
"It was really, really awesome," he said.
"I feel privileged to have gone."
To help, send cheques to the Winnipeg Free Press Sunshine Fund c/o 302-960 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R3T 0R4.
You can also donate in person or online by going to www.mbcamping.ca and following the CanadaHelps donation link. For more information on the Sunshine Fund, call 784-1130 or email sunshinefund@mbcamping.ca .
kristy.hoffman@freepress.mb.ca
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Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 28, 2012 B2
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