The Spirit lives on
Camp Ozanam, which now rests on the shores of Deer Lake, started out as a camp on the shores of Lake Simcoe. The transition between those two properties, with an 8-year stopover in Aurora (on the shores of… Kennedy Road), was made possible because of the indelible spirit of our camp and the people that worked hard to ensure that the spirit never died.
Putting my luggage on the bus on my first day of being a CIT.
Camp Ozanam has an energy that really is indescribable to those that have never worked there, as is often told to the staff during precamp. I started at camp as a CIT in 1997 and worked for seven full summers. In 2004, I made the decision that all who love our camp have to make at some point, the decision to not return as a staff member. In classic fashion, I had figured that I’d only miss one summer and then be back the next (I really wanted to get a promotion from being a lifeguard in the city). In the summers that followed, I would always pay a visit to boys camp.
In 2008 the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) made it possible for the spirit to live on and found a great property in Aurora to host us. It was in that year that I never visited camp, not for any reason other than that I just never made it there. In 2009, I visited and quickly was amazed at what I saw and experienced; nothing about the core of camp had really changed. The dinner bell had rung and kids lined up with counsellors enthusiastically (for the most part) getting them organized. There was still a podium in front of the anatari where the Program Director shouted with a wonderful, unique intonation that any camp person since I’ve been there would recognize. There were lines in front of that podium for each of the cabins, some of the cabin lines were well organized with every camper spaced one arm length apart, others were still trying to get organized. There were a few kids not lined up, and each had a staff member chatting with them, hoping to persuade them to join their cabin’s line. After dinner there was time in the field followed a bell. Everyone gathered for line up points and the anthem, and then on to Evening E where, as always, some guy and his sidekick made an entertaining entrance.. They were wearing costumes which they made from scratch, including some pieces scrounged up from the Rec Hall. The kids were enthralled and cheering, which proved useful as some seemingly nefarious individual showed up (I think they wanted the deed, but jokes on them as we were renting the property).
As a visitor that day, it was very apparent that the Senior Staff who were involved in the relocation, guys like Mike S., Fran, Nic, Al, Steve G., the Guays and the Keasts, did everything they could to figure out how the camp that we all love would function in the same manner on this new property. In fact many years later, Jamesy would tell me that when he was younger he went to a leadership camp in Orillia. While on that property he started to realize, based on how our camp ran, that this was probably the original camp property. His hunch was proven correct when he saw my name on the wall in the back of a cabin 😃.
After that first visit in 2009 I would continue to visit and volunteer, being drawn in by the intangible spirit that still existed at camp. It was great seeing the Senior Staff guys that I already knew, but also to see that the same passion coming from the next generation of Senior Staff, guys like Niro, Gus and the soon-to-be-nicknamed T-Rex. In 2013 I took over from Nic as the cook and so I was once again working at boys camp. It felt great to be back in this community and feel that energy each day.
The spirit of camp lived on in Aurora, but in 2016 we were on the move again as SVDP had purchased a beautiful property near South River. Quickly our Senior Staff got to work, having discussions and planning in order to figure out how our camp that we love would function on this property; very quickly this new property felt like home. Great conversations ensued, like which of these buildings should be handicraft and in which building were the CIT’s going to live.
Me sitting in front of 400 (roughly) grilled cheese that I will soon be frying up on the grill.
* thanks to the many staff members that have been on grilled cheese duty, helping to butter the many thousands upon thousands of grilled cheeses over the years! ❤️
I am one of a handful of guys that have worked on all three properties. It’s been fascinating to be a part of this move to Deer Lake and help maintain the spirit of camp that I learned from the giants who preceded me. In the same way that I was able to visit Aurora and see how the spirit of boys camp was kept alive and well, we in South River have had some camp legends visit and share that they have observed the same. It’s been awesome to have visitors like Bernie and Martina Smith, and Pascal Murphy who volunteered their time and also played witness to the fact that the spirit and energy that permeated through our property on the shores of Lake Simcoe has found a wonderful home here on the shores of Deer Lake.