Mom grateful kids won’t be missing out this summer
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Arleen Kehler feels most at peace when she is surrounded by nature.
Now, she wants her children to experience that same feeling.
Kehler grew up spending summers splashing in Clear Lake or picking sage for smudging in Birds Hill park.
“They’re missing out,” Kehler said of her children, while fighting back tears. “They need to know how beautiful the planet we live on is.”
This summer marks the 45th year of the Sunshine Fund helping send Manitoba children to summer camp.
With the help of donations, Kehler’s two eldest children, Jayden, 7, and Nevaeh, 9, get to visit InterVarsity Pioneer Camp Manitoba this summer.
Nevaeh went to the same camp, located on Shoal Lake, nearly 150 kilometres east of Winnipeg, last year for the first time. She loved to swim in the lake every day and eat meals underneath the A-frame canopies, her mom said.
“Everyone deserves to go,” Kehler said. “Everyone deserves something nice when you’re a kid. City life is hectic, and it’s nice to have them experience what life is like when not around all the hecticness.”
Kehler is a second-level plumbing apprentice, but because she can’t find a before-and-after school program for her children, it’s difficult for her to work full time.
The fund shrunk a nearly $1,400 camp fee to around $280 for Kehler, through its sliding scale based on family income.
Over the years, the 42-year-old has tried to give her children a taste of the outdoors by taking them on road trips. Her fondest memory was driving to Banff, Alta., with her children in 2022.
When they arrived, Kehler said she was overcome with emotion at being able to experience the mountains with her children.
She was hoping to go on another trip this summer but expensive car repairs foiled those plans.
“I was so worried I was going to disappoint them because of my situation with the car.”
Something good came out of something bad, she said, when a neighbour told her about the Sunshine Fund.
“I was so relieved with the Sunshine Fund. I’m just really excited. I wish I could go with them,” she said.
Kehler said both of her children are thrilled to go to camp and appreciate the opportunity.
“The Sunshine Fund is really amazing. I cried and I’m still crying from that because that’s a hefty bill.”
Last year, the Sunshine Fund helped 603 children go to 30 camps across Manitoba and Ontario. So far this year, 465 children have signed up, with more applications being processed. This year, there are 31 camps to choose from.
matthew.frank@freepress.mb.ca