GRAVENHURST - In a matter of days, 300 volunteers replaced a condemned building at Camp Winston on the shores of Sparrow Lake with a new wellness centre complete with office and bunk space.
Volunteer Builders, a not-for-profit organization with a core of volunteers from the Greater Toronto Area, celebrated its 10th anniversary of annual community builds with a project at Camp Winston, the Severn Bridge camp for children with complex learning disabilities and neurological disorders.
The project was the organization’s biggest build in terms of both volunteer support and square footage.
Using volunteer staff and donations of design and working drawings, materials, equipment and project coordination, food and funds, Volunteer Builders is able to build at least one structure each year for a worthy community-oriented recipient.
They worked from sun-up to sundown for three days to build the 3,700-square-foot facility at Camp Winston where a summer camp, weekend and weeklong retreats for children ages six to 17 are held throughout the year.
The camp provides recreational activities for individuals with autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, learning disabilities, obsessive compulsive disorder and others.
For Chris Knight, co-chair of the build, the Camp Winston project hit close to home as his son suffers from Asperger syndrome.
“There are a lot of worthy camps, so it’s not easy to pick one over another,” said Knight, adding Camp Winston exemplifies the spirit of what the volunteer building group wanted to achieve. “I’ve never seen a camp with relationships between counsellors and kids both affected by the same challenges.”
Each year Volunteer Builders puts out a call for build proposals from camp associations in need of support. Knight said Camp Winston’s video sealed the deal and had members of the executive board in tears.
“The hardest thing is to get through to the camps that we are going to do this,” said Knight. “No one believes we’re able to make it happen.”
Carolyn Heil of Camp Winston said one of the remarkable details about the camp is that the counsellors who work with the campers also live with multiple neurological disorders. The camp has operated for the past 18 years.
She said the work by Volunteer Builders is nothing short of phenomenal. The camp requested a 900-square-foot facility and wound up with a two-storey structure.
“There’s so much positive energy,” she said. “What they’re creating is so powerful. We just love it.”
To bring the project to fruition, a number of corporate partners and supporters donated materials, supplies and machinery. Even food and box springs and mattresses were donated for the volunteers since the camp could only sleep a limited number.
Under a core group of about 25 skilled tradespeople, the rest of the volunteers were able to work where they felt comfortable.
“It doesn’t matter if you can paint, hold a hammer or saw,” explained Bill Banham, co-chair of the build. “We have people from all walks of life.”
In addition to a new wellness centre, the Stan Lodge at Camp Winston got new shingles on its roof and about $80,000 worth of solar panels donated by Solera Energies to help generate revenue for the camp through renewable energy production.
Volunteers also rebuilt several decks, staircases into cabins, and made significant upgrades to the outdoor playground without power tools to incorporate “green” power.