Family Weekend Camp Report 2017
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CHHA Foundation Report Date & Location From September 1st to 3rd 2017, the once-popular Family Weekend Camp was revived from a six-year hiatus. The location was at Camp Elkgrove in Aldergrove British Columbia, run by the Elks Recreational Children’s Camp Society, which is a non-profit, volunteer based organization that aims to provide camping facilities for special needs children. Their philosophy aligns with ours as we both firmly believe children need and should have the opportunity to participate in social interactive activity in an atmosphere that will provide each individual child a chance to expand their horizons. The camp is free of charge to all hard of hearing children. Participants Spaces filled up quickly once announcement was made about the camp. 23 families applied with 4 being put on the waitlist. Due to the limited capacity of the camp (max 48 people) each family could only accompanied by one parent. After last-minute withdrawals the final numbers were 43 participants: 17 hard of hearing children, 6 siblings, 13 parents, 3 cooks and 4 leaders (2 of which are parents of HOH children). Overall 15 families participated in the camp. Programme Friday Before the official start of camp 8 families took the optional trip to Greater Vancouver Zoo nearby. Upon arrival each family is assigned to a cabin which was also their home team. We started the camp with a pledge where all participants agreed they would follow the communication rules (e.g. “I will repeat what I said if someone did not hear me”, “I will not bluff”) and take risks (“I will try something new”, “I will talk with someone I have not met before”). Evening activities included Human Bingo where each person was given a sheet containing characteristics that they had to match with someone else and free-for-all games. Later the kitchen staff provided the all-time popular treat: roasted marshmallows! As the younger children made their way to bed, the older ones stayed behind and played two social games: 1) “Guess who”: Each person writes down one thing about themselves, put it in a bucket and with each draw, the group has to guess who that person was. 2) “Mafia”: One person is picked to be a narrator, mafia, a doctor, and a detective. The rest of the group are citizens. The group has to work together in figuring out who the mafia is before it is too late. Saturday We began the day with a photo scavenger hunt where participants were split into four teams and they created their own team names: Awesome Pinkies, Big Girls, Lightning Boys, and Team Ronaldo. They ventured out to various areas of campsite to take pictures of the items listed. Everyone were commended for their creativities. Later on we visited the petting farm on site. Everyone had the opportunity to feed the pony and donkey living there. For arts and craft the younger children made puppet dolls and the older ones tye-dyed their shirts. In the afternoon the families headed out to a nearby community pool. As it was still scorching hot by the time they came back we cancelled the outdoor activities and made it a free-for-all time. The beauty of this was that it didn’t take long for children to create their own enjoyment. We watched the slideshow from scavenger hunt and announced the winning team. The day was wrapped up with a movie night: Zootopia. Sunday On the last day it was all hands on deck to clean the cabins and main lodge. The final group activity was the obstacle course followed by a medal ceremony which all children receive a memento to remember their experiences at camp. Evaluation A survey was sent out a week after the camp in which 8 families responded. The majority were satisfied with the venue and programmed. They described the photo scavenger hunt and meeting other families as their children’s favorite parts of the camp. The overall quality of the camp was rated an average of 4.375 on a scale of 5. All of the families stated they would attend the camp next year and recommend to someone. Please refer below for additional testimonials: “My 8 year old son had a wonderful weekend at family camp! He enjoyed playing with old friends & making new connections. We're both looking forward to attending camp next year!” “It was a great way to meet other parents and network, and for us with a younger HH child, it was really helpful for her and us to see how other families with HH children interact. What a fabulous way to spend a weekend together!!” “This camp was such a valuable opportunity for my daughter to get together with other DHH children. She loved every minute of it and talked about her friends from camp for weeks!” “We were asking about favourite parts of the summer tonight, and with a new dog, 2 week road trip, RVing with Grandparents, and some other cool stuff to choose from, the kids all mentioned this weekend!” Acknowledgements We would like to take a moment to thank the following people who contributed their time to plan and run the camp: o Allison Lui (Planning Team) o Cameron Napier (Lead Cook) o Juliet Napier (Planning Team) o John Matheson (Assistant Cook) o Elaine Rosario (Planning Team) o Stephen Vaive (Assistant Cook) We would also like to thank the staff at CHHA-BC office for taking care of the administrative/financial paperwork and CHHA-BC Parent’s Branch for promoting the camp to its members. Lastly none of these would have been possible without the funds from CHHA Foundation. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this report. Respectfully submitted, Bowen Tang CHHA-BC Youth Peer Support Program January 1st 2018 .