Our mission at Camp Mini-Yo-We is “to develop tomorrow’s leaders through life-changing adventures in God’s creation”. Thousands of young women trace their leadership and spiritual development back to their times at this facility and with our community. For this year’s Christmas Campaign we are focusing on helping to upgrade our facilities at Girls’ Camp to aid future generations of young women. Your gift before midnight on December 31st, 2021 is vitally important to fund these two strategically important areas:
Lodge Repair & Refresh
The Camp Lodge is the heart of Girls’ Camp. In the summer of 2019, the fireplace was condemned and can no longer provide a welcoming fire on chillier mornings. Your gift will change that for next summer! Plus, our roof urgently needs a complete replacement to keep the weather off our campers. Help keep them warm and dry this summer.
Brand New Docks & Waterfront
The waterfront has always been a core part of our campers’ experience at Mini-Yo-We. Your gift will enable us to complete a multi-year project to reconstruct all our waterfronts and make them even more fun and safe. The Girls’ Camp’s waterfront is where memories that last a lifetime are made. Thank you in advance for your help to improve this area!
Want to read more about the Christmas Campaign? Check out this video and read about it at this link. In this post, we’re focusing on how your gifts are going to enable a fantastic waterfront experience for future campers!
The Waterfront is a Big Deal at Girls’ Camp!
A key part of Camp Mini-Yo-We’s 2021 Christmas Campaign is to add brand new docks and upgrade the waterfront for Girls’ Camp. Your gifts will enable us to finish this multi-year project strong, with the largest dock upgrade that we’ve done across Camp. Included in this upgrade are a number of items that will help us serve our guests better going forward including:
- All new docks in our standard “H” orientation will make a great shallow and deep-end swimming experience.
- The return of the floating dock “Jump Tower” for girls looking for an extra challenge when jumping in the lake!
- A sheltered boat dock area to take better care of our powerboats.
- Much faster spring setup and fall removal, saving our team precious time to focus on other projects around the site.
- Improved beach area with new stanchions to help ensure safe access to the waterfront.
You can get a sense of what we’re adding to Girls’ Camp by watching this overview video of what our improved Discovery Camp docks look like.
View this post on Instagram
This is so much more than just a facility upgrade. Your gift this Christmas is really helping to enable an entire ministry platform for decades to come! Here are five reasons that waterfronts are a big deal at Girls’ Camp:
- Muskoka Means Lakes – For nearly 80 years, girls have loved coming up to Camp Mini-Yo-We and jumping in Mary Lake. There is something almost magical about swimming in a Muskoka Lake on a hot summer’s day! In a lot of ways, this is the core experience that draws so many of us back to this region time and again. Your gift towards the Christmas Campaign will enable girls to continue to experience this timeless Muskoka classic.
- A Quiet Place of Reflection – Our docks are not just a place for hustle and bustle fun, they are also a place to slow down and enjoy God’s creation. Whether it’s sitting with your cabin group in the morning and watching the mist roll out over the lake or enjoying a moment during an incredible sunset … our docks are often a place to experience the wonder and awe of what God has created! Your gift will pass on this experience to generations of campers to come.
- Better Environmental Stewardship – We always want to “leave it better than we found it!” Your gift to the Christmas Campaign will enable a new system of docks that are more environmentally friendly than the system we’re replacing. We’ve already been able to remove the old “cribs” that were filled with metal rods, rotting timbers, and more. The new docks have a much lighter carbon footprint and will help to ensure that generations of future campers experience a clean Mary Lake.
- Help Keep Campers Safe – Safety is our highest priority at Camp Mini-Yo-We. We are consistently looking for ways to increase the “safety factor” in all that we do around our ministry. These new docks are no exception! Our waterfront teams report that this new system makes it significantly easier and faster to do a “waterfront search” compared to our old system. We are also adding newly designed lifeguard chairs across all our waterfronts this year to improve the visibility of this team to our guests and vice versa.
- Beach Days are the Best Days – If you were to visit Girls’ Camp on any given week over the last decade (or more) you would know that a highlight of the week is always beach day. All of Girls’ Camp spend an afternoon enjoying the sand and the sun. Our team has special beachy activities planned. It’s a Girls’ Camp tradition to enjoy the music and each other in some relaxed, relational time on the shore of Mary Lake. Upgrading the docks and the beach will enhance this highlight of Girls’ Camp for years to come!
Bonus: Did you hear about the blueberry patch? Last summer, when Girls’ Camp wasn’t being used by campers, we planted a brand new low-bush blueberry bush patch all along the waterfront beside the beach. This project is about shoreline maintenance and ensuring we hold back erosion in this area for years to come. The plants we planted are native species and have the side benefit of providing another fun activity for girls to do in the future. Imagine how fun it will be to pick blueberries as a cabin group during a beach day! Just another cool upgrade to Girls’ Camp in the future.
Would You Consider Giving Generously to This Special Christmas Campaign?
The financial goal for Camp Mini-Yo-We’s 2021 Christmas Campaign is $105,000, in order to help fund this project and our work on the lodge. A generous donation at this time of year would be greatly appreciated. When you’re ready to donate, you can do so in multiple ways:
- By Cheque – Mail your gift to our office at 1878 Muskoka Road 10, Port Sydney, Ontario, P0B 1L0.
- Online – We have a special Christmas Campaign giving form set up. Click here to give now.
- Securities – You can donate stocks to Camp. Click here to read more about how to give in this way.
100% of your donations to Camp Mini-Yo-We are tax-deductible. Please give before midnight on December 31st, 2021 to receive a receipt for this tax year.
As we say at Girls’ Camp – Thanks for the day, comrades!