Although it was certainly not the summer we envisioned, we made the most of a difficult situation. As most other organizations and businesses tried to navigate their way through a unique summer, we did our best to make sure we were still striving to fulfill our mission.
We had completed the hiring of our seasonal staff in February. We had a great diverse and enthusiastic team of 10, with a mixture of new to us and veterans. The Pandemic created obvious obstacles and much uncertainty. Once we finally received approval to enter PEI on June 29th, we arranged to bring on six amazing staff members hired locally and all former campers. As familiar as it gets with CT, these six people have spent 200 weeks at camp over the years.
With regulations only permitting day camps for the entirety of the summer, we were forced to put our overnight camp schedule on hold. On top of that, our spring camps and rentals were all a no go. So in their place we ran two sessions of day camps in July and August. In addition, our staff created, filmed, and produced a summer-long series of virtual camp and camp at home activities. All of these activities can still be viewed on our website and Instagram feed.
Because we know our facility itself is part of what makes Camp Triumph so special, our staff rolled up their sleeves, put their heads down, and worked hard to keep it special.
They painted, fixed, pulled, tended, rearranged, dug, cleaned, built, and enhanced. Showing tangible results for their labour in the form of a very well cared for property with some new touches.
One of those new touches was the transforming and beautifying of our front entrance complete with a new gate to match the look of our lodge. The final piece of that entrance will be an information board to educate and provide insight about our campers, our cause, and the impact illness has on the family, to the public passing by our camp. There has been lots of curiosity and misinformation about what we do so this will help to inform and welcome. The information boards will include quotes from the campers etched on wood plaques.
Another new enhancement was the carving of a hiking trail through our woods, opening up new programming possibilities. In the trails, our day campers built shelters, and got a little closer to nature. They were the first to experience what we hope to be a unique addition for years to come.
Something we have been working hard on for over a year now, is a project that will open up the potential of our facility: a new multi-use building. Because of current limitation, it will include a new indoor programming space, cabin space for campers and staff, as well as usually scarce storage. This project has become even more important because of the pandemic since we will need the added cabin space to spread out those on site going forward. This building will also open up opportunities in the offseason for added programming and fundraising potential.
Finally, our staff helped to organize and deliver a new fundraising event - our Triumphant 5K. We were able to hold this event in mid October, following all current health protocols. It was a great opportunity to have people unfamiliar with Camp Triumph, to enjoy our property and learn about how and why we support the population of children and youth in our mandate. The feedback from the participants was very favourable and sparked interest in not only returning for a future race, but also interest in our organization.
Another major project that we devoted time and effort on, was the development of resources to help our families year round. One of the original 2020 staff members worked with us on this from a distance, as she was not able to be at the camp physically. She completed an extensive literature review which will be helpful in portraying the need of this population as well as development of strategies for their support.
We know it was a tough summer for so many kids with elevated feelings of isolation, but we remain hopeful that overnight camps will return in 2021 and we can all be together again. Towards that goal we are working with various other organizations and government to plan for the future.
