Vancouver 2010 Olympics helped Qwanoes take camper safety and health to a whole new level! How could that be? You might ask, well let me tell you! Qwanoes was one of 200 organizations across Canada chosen to receive complimentary Automatic External Defebrillators (AED’s) from a company called Medtronics as a legacy of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
At Qwanoes camper & staff safety and health is of utmost importance. So as a part of Health Care upgrades for this summer we were able to add two AED’s. We are very thankful one was fully donated and we had the opportunity to be part of the Olympic legacy program! One of the AED’s is located at the waterfront and the other one is located at our Health Care Centre. Although it has never happened – if anyone suffers sudden cardiac arrest they can now be given immediate assistance. I hope we never have to use our AED’s, but it sure is a big comfort to know we have a high tech piece of equipment right at our finger tips if we ever need it!
Juniors #3 is in full-swing and we are coming to the close of another great day! Campers are just finishing up Q-Town and will soon be heading to Mug-Up for a snack and then off to the Treehouses and cabins for devos and bed-time!
Talking about Treehouses I actually was part of a Treehouse adventure last night! I was a little bit behind the group, so as I made my way across Lost Canyon, I started hearing the excitement echo in the distance and all the chatter of excited campers. It was fun to see so many flashlights shining all around shimmering against the trees and down into the canyon! I made my way onto the suspension bridge and peered up into the bottom of one of the giant tree houses. As I grabbed the ladder to stable myself, someone looked down at me and said “Come on up!” So up the ladder I went to see how all the campers were doing. I asked one boy camper that was bedding down for the night what he thought of this whole experience, and he said confidently back to me “it’s pretty cool, I’m not afraid.” I asked him if he looked out the window yet, and he said he hadn’t… so he grabbed his flashlight, dashed quickly to the window to look out and shine his flashlight on the ground to see how far up he was… and then I heard him say “whoa dude, we are so high up! Awesome! Wow!” He then looked back at me with his eyes full of wonder, but still with a look to let me know he wasn’t afraid, he then crawled a little more carefully and slowly back to his sleeping bag. What a memory making night for these young adventurers!
As I said good night to all the campers, I couldn’t help but see how one of the girl cabins were doing in the treehouses. As I got closer all I heard was giggling and 10 little girls talking a mile a minute. I yelled up! “How’s it going up there? What do you think of all this?” All I heard back was a big loud “AWESOME!” with more and more giggling that only little Juniors girl campers can do. What a grand adventure!
It was Greylocks Magical Extravaganza tonight, so that means there was plenty of campers with faces painted, testing their strength on the horizontal bungee and mouths full of the sweet taste of cotton candy. That’s right it was carnival night at Qwanoes! Always a great night with so many great carnival games, and challenges to join in on. It’s always fun to see campers darting back and forth trying to decide what to do next!
Youth Camp is coming up next week and we can’t wait!
