the great outdoors

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This article was published 26/08/2017 (3291 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At age 62, the numbers still add up for a rewarding gig for Dave Wilson, even when he considers driving 1,800 kilometres to spend two weeks volunteering at a Christian summer camp.

“I come back because of what camp means to me,” says the Mississauga, Ont., resident of his nearly five-decade long involvement with Manitoba Pioneer Camp, part of a network of nine summer camps in Canada associated with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.

“I want to do anything I can to help in that mission of bringing God to campers.”

Located on two islands on Shoal Lake, just east of the Manitoba-Ontario border, the camp celebrates its 75th anniversary on the September long weekend, inviting former campers, staff and volunteers back for 48 hours of canoeing, campfires, singsongs and catching up with old friends.

“I have friends from all over the world because of Manitoba Pioneer Camp,” says former office manager Joy Ooto, one of the planners of the anniversary weekend, expected to attract about 100 people.

Pioneer Camp has become a family affair for Winnipeg registered nurse Pam Poulter Friesen and her four sons, several of whom have also worked as paid summer staff.

“You feel appreciated when you are there and young people come to talk to you,” says Friesen, who has volunteered as camp nurse since 2001.

“I feel like it’s one of my landmark places and it’s one of the greatest weeks of my year.”

Established in 1942 by IVCF staff and volunteers with the financial support of Winnipeg tea and coffee merchant Hugh L. MacKinnon, the camp operated in a former residential school in Kenora for two seasons before moving to its current location on the north end of Shoal Lake.

For the first decade or so, campers and staff made the two-hour trip from Winnipeg on the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway, then took a short boat ride to the main camp on MacKinnon Island, named after its benefactor. These days, campers usually take a bus and then catch the 45-passenger boat, which the camp has owned for the last 60 years.

Over the years, volunteers have improved the five-acre main campsite, now connected to the power grid instead of relying on diesel generators, and boasts reliable cellphone communication instead of one-way radio. More recent updates include renovations to 13 of the 17 cabins, and improvements to the kitchen, washrooms and staff facilities.

What hasn’t changed over 75 years is the remote setting of both the main camp and satellite site at nearby Cash Island, giving campers and staff plenty of opportunities to interact with nature and each other, says executive director Pete Dearborn.

“As we live in community, we learn to serve each other because we need to,” says Dearborn, on staff for the past 28 years.

“We share our lives together because we live so closely together.”

That sense of community draws Wilson back each year, taking holidays from his work in communications cabling at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport to be the camp fix-it guy in May.

He plans to return for another two-week volunteer stint at the end of the camping season to celebrate the anniversary and take a little time to appreciate the outdoors.

“I enjoy going on an overnight (camp-out) with one of my friends or kids,” he says of the highlights of his time as a volunteer.

Dearborn says that wilderness setting remains the focus of Manitoba Pioneer Camp, known for its strong canoeing and out-tripping programs, implemented in the early days by naturalist and author Bill Mason. With strong volunteer support and increased camper numbers over the past five years, Dearborn remains confident that the camp will celebrate many more anniversaries.

“We think the need for this kind of wilderness experience and living in community through authentic relationships and living off the grid and becoming more aware of the God of creation is needed way more now than it was when it started 75 years ago.”

brenda@suderman.com

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