the great impact of a little effort

Teddy (cowboy hat) entertaining a cabin of campers.

I was 12 years old the first time I set foot on Camp Ozanam. Saying my goodbyes to my parents for the week, getting immersed in this strange new environment. My parents had dropped me off by car, so there was still a little bit of time until the rest of the kids showed up on the bus. I remember sitting under a pine tree, as I waited, and a counsellor came over and sat with me. We talked about superheroes until the buses showed up with the rest of the campers, and from there the usual ruckus began as the camp started to gear into a new week. 

Given that I’ve now had the privilege to work at Camp Ozanam over the years, both as a counsellor and senior staff member, I’ve gained insight into little moments like these. As a camper, I didn’t think much more of the chat I had about superheroes once the week had begun, my little mind buzzing from one new experience to the next. But now, having been on the other side of that many times, I see someone taking the time to make sure no child feels unnoticed or ignored. I see a small effort that went a long way in ensuring that my first impression of this new world was one of kindness, and that for all the new faces I’d meet, I’d be greeted with a smile and laugh in turn. 

Over the course of my career as a counsellor I reflected often on the subtle efforts put in by my counsellors from when I was a camper. These little things that can dress up something simple like a bedtime story or arts and crafts into the regaling of ancient legends or an exclusive once in a lifetime experience. 

My favourite example of this was from that same week when I first came to camp. With the property at the time, the sleeping arrangements had the cabin split up into multiple small, tent-like, cabins (tabins). Traditionally, a counsellor would have the children in their sleeping bags before telling a bedtime story, so that they’d naturally fall asleep as you told it. This presented a unique challenge for my counsellors at the time, as not only did they not have that luxury of the campers already being in bed, but we were also of the older age group, so we may be less open to a more childish bedtime story. The solution my counsellors came up with was ‘ozanam after hours’. We were no longer a bunch of campers being told a bedtime story before we nod off. We were now part of an exclusive club, gathering around picnic tables to hear ancient legends and myths that the other kids weren’t mature enough to.

That one simple change, a mere reframing of something we had all gone through hundreds of times before, transformed it into something incredible. It really brought our cabin together, letting us feel like more than a random assortment of kids, and it’s still stuck with me to this day. That little bit of effort to really make a kid feel like they’re something special. It’s something that I strove to embody in my time on the counselling staff, and tried to teach to every counsellor I mentored. 

Evening Sectional Story in the Rec Hall

Now, will all your efforts as a counsellor forever be ingrained in every camper you meet? No, not at all. Oftentimes it can feel like the opposite, with some children who wouldn’t leave your side one summer returning the next struggling to remember your name. But there are some you’ll meet, those who return to homes that aren’t ideal, the ones who need kindness more than anything, that making them feel like they’re worth the effort it takes to go the extra mile can make all the difference in the world. 

And who knows? Maybe years down the line a few of those kids will come back, and put in the effort to make the world seem a little kinder, one week at a time.