Winter 2013 - YMCA of Greater Toronto

CAMPFIRE
CHATTER
N e w s l e t t e r Winter 2013
CONNECTING
YOU TO YMCA
CAMP PINE
CREST
WINTER PROGRAMS WHERE ARE YOU NOW? December Social

Winter Programs
This is the best winter Ontario has seen in years and Pine Crest is making the most of all
this snow! Join our March Break program for children 11-14 from March 10-15, 2013. You’ll
snowshoe and back country ski on our many trails, play broom ball, build snow shelters,
experience the high ropes course and get a thrill on our tube run. Contact the camp office or
visit camppinecrest.ca for more information.
Summer Camp
Registration
Registration for summer 2013 is well
underway. We’re now 70% full for our
summer programs so now is the time
to register! We still have a few spaces in
our Senior Leadership July program for
16-year-old girls and in the Georgian Bay
Sea Kayak and Coulonge river program for
13 and 14-year-olds.
Please contact Anne Coleman at
1-877-878-9622 for more information
on availability, registration and program
information.
Decade Dinner —
1980s
Calling all Pine Crest alumni from the
1980s! You’re invited to join us for the
first annual Decade Dinner. Each year
the Alumni Committee and YMCA Camp
Pine Crest will throw a celebration dinner
for a different decade. This year‘s dinner
weekend is March 2-3, 2013. Alumni
are welcome to arrive at Pine Crest at 1
p.m. on Saturday afternoon for activities
including ropes and weather-dependent
snowshoeing, broom ball and snow
tubing. Dinner will be held in Winter Lodge
and you’ll stay the night in our winterized
lodge accommodations. The cost is $70
per person. Please call our office for more
information on registration. We’re looking
forward to a great evening!
Dates to Remember
Decade Dinner March 2-3, 2013
March Break Program March 10-15, 2013
Spring Work Weekend April 26-28, 2013
Alumni Weekend June 7-9, 2013
Pine Crest Games Reunion September 11-13, 2015

Where Are You Now
In this edition we’re catching up with Beth Cotton.
When were you at Pine Crest?
I was at camp for three years in the mid-1980s and held the
positions of Counsellor in the girls’ section, Pioneer Girls
Director and Assistant Waterfront Director.
How are you involved with Camp Pine Crest
today?
I was excited when my daughter Maddy and her
best friend Annie declared (at age nine) that they
were ready for one week of camp at Pine Crest.
Then I was hit with an avalanche of thoughts —
firstly how could I be old enough to have a child
going to Pine Crest as a camper! Secondly, where
have the years gone? It feels like just yesterday
that I was preparing for a 10 trip to Temagami
with pioneer girls!
Since then our car has been one of the first in line
each summer waiting for registration to begin.
There has never been a thought for Maddy to
take the bus. As she can attest, I’m almost more
excited than she to step back onto the Pine Crest
property each year, smell the scent of the pine
needles, walk the docks down at the waterfront,
and climb (at a much slower pace) the rocks up
to Kekindewin to see my name written over the
carved canoe on the board showing the staff/
camper canoe marathon winners from the ’80s.
And now that Maddy will be a counselor this
summer in her second year as a staff member, all
the memories are coming back, especially the
great fun during pre-camp. Boy do I feel old now!
This past December I attended the Pine Crest
reunion at the downtown YMCA. My daughter
and a few of her great friends presented a
fabulous power point on their shared experiences
on the Senior Adventure Leadership Trip that
ran the Coppermine River to the Arctic Ocean
in the summer of 2011. I got to see Maddy as
a wonderful ambassador for all the fantastic
leadership opportunities the camp offers to
campers now. I also reconnected with a few
characters from my staff days and met a group of
interesting men that filled the staff positions in
the 1960s when Pine Crest was a boys-only camp.
Watching Madelaine and her friends interact
with the alumni from the 1960s made me realize
that Camp Pine Crest isn’t defined by its location
on a map of Ontario. It’s a living experience that
travels wherever her campers and staff travel
throughout the world, united by our shared love
of opening and closing campfires, canoe trips
throughout Ontario, and of course the Pine Crest
Games! That and our own Pine Crest language
are the common threads that tie us all together
despite our differences in age.
I wouldn’t have attended the reunion if it weren’t
for Madelaine’s presentation, but boy am I ever
glad I did! For a few hours, I was right back there
in the ’80s, remembering that tremendous time
of personal growth and laughing with all of the
crazy and embarrassing stories. Good fun indeed!
Welcome to the Newest Member of the Balmer Family!
We’re very excited to welcome Elowyn Shea Lennon Balmer
to the world! Elowyn was born on November 29, 2012, to
Andrea, Pine Crest General Manager, and Coel, Pine Crest
Facility Manager. Andrea will be taking the year off to
spend time with Elowyn and Coel is currently the Acting
General Manager and Camp Director. Congratulations
Andrea and Coel!

December Social
The December Alumni Social was a great
success! Thanks to the alumni who joined
us for the evening. We were treated to a
slide show presentation of the 2011 Senior
Adventure Leadership trip on the Coppermine
River from four of our summer staff members
who participated in this amazing experience.
Ross McKerron brought a canoe pack full of
canned food and shared with us what outtripping
was like in the ’60s and ’70s.
It was great to see so many new faces out to
this annual event. Thank you to the volunteers
who helped with set up, take down, sign in,
coat check, ticket sales, presentations and bar
tending. A very special thanks goes out to the
Alumni Committee for putting this wonderful
event together. Franny Bergschneider, Judy
Baker-Campbell, Sharif Mahdy, Janet Miller,
Ian Harling, Lisa Harling, Phoebe Rockman
and Andrew Harvie worked hard to take care
of all the little details and the event went off
without a hitch. We hope to see everyone
again next December!
Camp Contact
1090 Gullwing Lake Road, Torrance, ON P0C 1M0
Fax: 1-705-762-5961
Phone: 1-705-762-3377 or 1-877-878-9622
Email: camp.pinecrest@ymcagta.org
Website: www.camppinecrest.ca
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YMCA of Greater Toronto
2200 Yonge St. Unit 300
Toronto, ON M4S 2C6
Your YMCA’s charitable registration
number is: 11930 7080 RR0001