Being part of a community

I love being part of my community!  When my wife and I were looking for houses a couple of years ago we looked in established neighborhoods.  We wanted to feel part of something bigger than ourselves.  We wanted to wave at our neighbors when we got home in the afternoon, we wanted to sit on our back deck and talk to people as they walked their pets at night, we wanted sidewalks with kids playing on them and we wanted to know that we belonged somewhere.  

Every day at camp we teach our staff and campers how to live in a healthy community.  We teach them to be responsible for the world around them and to be respectful of others.  We teach them to deal honestly with everyone they come in contact with and to have a caring attitude toward others.  We believe if we can live the right way at camp there is no reason we cannot live that way when we leave camp.

People look for community in a number of places.  It might be your church, the place you work, your neighborhood pool in the summer or a restaurant you frequent.  For whatever reason people usually like being connected to something outside of themselves.  Camp Kanata is no different.  We are part of a community also, the town of Wake Forest.  We are active in the Chamber of Commerce, we have a float in the Christmas Parade, we support community events and we invite business leaders from Wake Forest to camp every summer to take part in an evening at Kanata.  We like being connected to something bigger than us.  This year the town of Wake Forest is celebrating its 100th anniversary and we are proud that we have been a part of this community for 55 of those 100 years.  

Congratulations Wake Forest on your first 100 years.  Kanata is honored to be part of your community.

See you this summer!

Your Camp Director,

Dave

Getting more people connected to Kanata

I am sitting in my office this afternoon staring at the whiteboard on my wall which is covered with names. Names of people who were former campers, counselors, parents of campers, board members, friends in the community and vendors who provide services to Kanata. I realize a couple of things. First, we are connected to a great family of volunteers and that makes the work we do at Kanata so rewarding. Secondly, we can accomplish so much more when we enlist the help of others. I couldn't tell you whether or not your name is on my whiteboard, but I can tell you that it should be. We want to have engaged participants at Kanata who do more than just come to camp in the summer. We want you to look at Kanata as a place to give back to your community whether it is through a work day, giving to our scholarship campaign or serving on one of our volunteer committees.

We can't truly measure the positive impact that camp has had on the lives of our campers and staff over the years, but we can say that the character traits of honesty, respect, responsibility and caring that have been taught for years have produced better citizens of our world. We can say that the positive role models that our campers have seen over the years have helped produce thousands of leaders who understand the benefits of giving back and making a difference in another persons life.

Consider giving back this year at Camp Kanata. Give of your time, your resources and your energy. Give because it makes a difference in a child's life and because you will see a return on that investment for years to come.

See you this summer!

Your Camp Director,

Dave

Camp Kanata - It's the People!

Camp Kanata - What a place. What a job!

Hey everyone, I'm Zach Friesen the Operations Director at Camp Kanata. My role on the team is to manage the maintenance crew, the facilities and the kitchen. It is a great job and I could go on and on about what we're doing in the Operations Department. We have a lot of fun and I love coming to work everyday.

I'd like to let you in on a little secret about Camp Kanata -- it's not about our beautiful facility, it's not about our rockin' programs, it's not about our 55 year history -- it's about our people. If you've spent any amount of time here, you know that's it's all about the people; always has been. Our year around staff is comprised of fun-loving, mission-oriented people. It really is something to see. It is not uncommon for one of our part-time maintenance crew members to come to me with a great programming idea for our campers. This is a place where everyone is truly working together towards a common goal - to build the Spirit, mind and body of each of one of our campers.

As a father of two, I tend to look at camp through my "dad eyes". My perspective as a father combined with my 10+ years experience running YMCA youth programs gives me a pretty critical eye. At last years’ staff banquet I was able to tell each of the staff that I would be proud if my children grew up to be like them - that says it all. Camp Kanata is about the people.

Zach Friesen

**If you are part of a group that would like to come volunteer your time at Camp, please let me know. We have projects of all difficulty levels, for all different sizes of groups.

Happy Holidays from Camp Kanata

It's almost Christmas and I'm sitting in a Panera Bread location on Capital Blvd. thinking back over the past year at Kanata. We had an incredible year! We made some great new friends and were able to reconnect with some old ones. If it was your first year with us at Camp Kanata we want to get to know you better. It can be difficult to get to know someone when they are at camp for just one or two weeks a year and that is why we have many opportunities for you to stay connected. Whether it is a volunteer opportunity for your church group or you individually, a team-building program for your corporate group or you individually volunteering in or giving to our annual scholarship campaign we want to get to know you better. We truly believe that Kanata is a great place to invest your resources because each and every day we are helping to produce campers and futures leaders with the character traits of honesty, respect, responsibilty and caring.

Thanks for your support of Camp Kanata this year. We are truly blessed to be in the work of strengthening children, families and communities. Have a Merry Christmas!

Your Camp Director,

Dave Bell