Celine Froese still thinks about the first time she went to camp as a child.
Of her family’s four daughters, she was the only one her parents could afford to send to Winkler Bible Camp.
“I was so outgoing outside,” Froese said. “It was really cool to get those experiences like riding horses, rock climbing and flipping canoes in the river. There’s a lot of experiences I still remember very clearly.”
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Celine Froese says the Sunshine Fund ‘really does help’ her be able to send daughter Savannah to camp.
She said her mother was very proud to send her to camp. Now, Froese, who’s a single mother, feels equally proud to send her own daughter, Savannah, 11, to pass that experience on.
Savannah first visited Winkler Bible Camp in 2022. Froese said it was special to bond with her daughter and compare their experiences. They compared notes on what it was like meeting new friends, making bracelets, and racing to snag the top spot on a bunk bed.
“It was cool to hear her talk about the same things I also went through, and it brought back a lot of core memories,” Froese said.
Froese said the camp helped Savannah bring out her social side. When her daughter returned home from her first camp experience, Froese said Savannah was ecstatic, sharing how she made so many new friends. Froese hopes these camp experiences will give her daughter the confidence she needs to be be a leader.
This year, Savannah is going to Camp Assiniboia in July with the help of the Sunshine Fund. The camp is located 16 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.
Savannah will be going with her best friend, who Froese describes as “two peas in a pod.”
Her daughter wouldn’t have had the opportunity to go without the program because Froese had graduated from the University of Manitoba last year and was working full time to support both of them.
“I think all of the moms in the world can say that they would do anything for their kids, and I’ve always just made it work for whatever she wants to do. But funding from programs like this really does help in the long run,” Froese said.
She appreciates the people who choose to use their money to offer kids a chance to make memories at summer camp.
Each year, the Manitoba Camping Association, through the Sunshine Fund, sends approximately 600 children to 32 camp programs across Manitoba and Ontario.
matthew.frank@freepress.mb.ca