In the month of July, a charity camp for children who were forced to leave their homeland was held at the CYM campsite Veselka near Acton, Ontario. The camp was planned in two tours, July 4-15 and July 18-29. The programs of these camps were different because the aim of the camp was to integrate all the campers when the educational and recreational camp took place in parallel in the last two weeks of July. In general, the goal of our camps and the CYM program is to educate patriotically conscious youth in the spirit of Christian principles. The first two weeks of the camp included 150 Ukrainian children who came to the camp on five different buses from different points of Toronto and its surroundings, namely OId Mill, the school of Joseph Cardinal Slipyj, UCC Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Mississauga, UCC St. Spirit in Hamilton and from north Toronto. The participants of the camp took part in a program that included singing, sports, swimming, field studies, conversations, self-activity and many interesting excursions to the city of Toronto. The theme of these two weeks was blue-yellow and the campers learned about various things that fit this theme; they learned about clouds and the sky and made paper airplanes, they learned about water and even purified it and played various games with water, they learned about flowers, wove wreaths and even went on quests looking for different flowers around the camp. Every day in the camp was different and the children were definitely not bored. In the first two weeks of the camp, English lessons were even held so that the campers could practice the language. On Thursdays, campers went on tours of Toronto, namely The Toronto Zoo, The Royal Ontario Museum and Ripley's Aquarium. Campers really liked these excursions. After the excursions, the Ukrainian Cultural Centre named after Taras Shevchenko opened its doors so that the children could enjoy a snack, watch a cartoon and relax.
The second tour differed in that an educational and recreational camp took place simultaneously. Here, the campers had the opportunity to participate in many different activities and events and discover the world of CYM. Campers had a camp wedding, took part in the Volodymyr Battle where they built castles, learned about mosquitoes, and many other interesting things. Excursions continued to the city of Toronto, but a very interesting excursion to the Ontario Science Center was added.
It should be mentioned that the camp could not have taken place without our wonderful volunteers, without the financial support of numerous donors and organizations, who helped immeasurably in the implementation of these camps. We would like to express special thanks to the Canadian-Ukrainian Foundation through the program of Humanitarian Aid of the Ukrainian Congress of Canada and support of summer camps for children forced to leave Ukraine as a result of the war, which became the main sponsor.
