Fund makes summer experiences possible for single mom’s family

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This article was published 25/08/2023 (819 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Single mother Nadine Miller wouldn’t have been able to send all five of her children to camp if not for the Free Press Sunshine Fund.

Three of them — Myah, 15, Nakiné, 12, and Zen, 10 — spent time at Circle Square Ranch in Spruce Woods this year.

Living like a cowgirl or cowboy, surrounded by horses? Well, thanks to the Sunshine Fund, that dream came true for Myah, 15, this summer.

Miller said that she came up with the idea of looking into Circle Square Ranch because Myah is an avid lover of animals and has always been captivated by horses. The kids previously attended camp Arnes.

“Myah always loved horses, and so when the opportunity came to go to a camp that had horses, that (was) when we switched over,” she said.

“They got to go horseback riding, they went ziplining.”

Miller’s children have benefited from the Sunshine Fund for six years, and she said it was important, living in an urban setting in Winnipeg, that they got the opportunity to experience the outdoors.

Miller is a single mother who currently works as an outreach facilitator for the Healthy Baby program at the Women’s Health Clinic.

“I’m a single mom and I’ve always struggled financially,” she said. “There’s no way I would have been able to pay for these camps were it not for the Sunshine Fund…. It allows all of my kids to go, versus me picking one kid.”

The Sunshine Fund was founded in 1979 and is a registered charity that helps children from low-income families attend summer camp with subsidies of up to $700 per child. The guidelines for determining if a family qualifies as low-income can be found on the Manitoba Camping Association website and are based on Statistics Canada guidelines.

The fund depends on private donations and grants to operate. There are 36 camps accredited by the Sunshine Fund. More than 30,000 children have gone to summer camp since the fund’s inception.

Dana Moroz, the fund’s program director said 520 kids received assistance this year, up from 403 in 2022.

“The Winnipeg Free Press-Sunshine Fund campaign is still our largest campaign and creates the largest revenue for the kids to date,” she said. “We are so grateful for donors, because without them we can’t do the work we do and these kids can’t get to camp.”

Moroz said that parents will sometimes email her about what a wonderful time they had at camp because of the fund and how they can’t wait to go back the following year.

“When you talk to the parents and realize how much of a difference this makes in their lives it just reinforces the work we do,” she said.

Moroz added that through her interactions with parents, she’s discovered what a beneficial effect going to summer camp can have on a child’s well-being.

“Mental health is so important and a week in summer camp improves the overall being of a child and makes such a difference in their lives,” she said.

Free Press editor Paul Samyn said a debt of gratitude is again owed to readers for their support of the Sunshine Fund.

“Our readers continue to amaze by way of their generosity and commitment to making a difference for kids across the province who have had a chance to get to a summer camp all because of the Sunshine Fund,” Samyn said.

graham.mcdonald@freepress.mb.ca