If The Last of the Duke Street Kings isn’t already dedicating the rock anthem “Born to Run” to every child and youth that has attended Camp Kirk, the perfect opportunity to do just that is fast approaching.
The Montreal-based Bruce Springsteen tribute band is headlining a fundraising concert on Saturday, August 22 at Lindsay’s FLATO Academy Theatre, with the proceeds destined to send more neurodivergent children and youth to the overnight summer camp in Kirkfield near Balsam Lake.
In doing so, the eight-piece band is helping ensure that more kids who were born to run — to explore and do what kids do — are provided the chance to do just that.
Although Camp Kirk opened in 1993, with the first intake seeing 36 kids provided a boost in confidence and self-esteem, the journey had its beginning in 1989 when the Lions Club of District A-16 gifted property it owned to a group of passionate advocates who recognized the importance of providing recreational opportunities specifically geared toward children with learning disabilities.
Two charities — Friends of the Learning Disabled, Camp Kirk and the Lions Club Camp Kirk Foundation — resulted. The former established and developed the camp program while the latter committed to building, maintaining, and stewarding the camp property. Now, 33 years on, the overnight summer camp continues to bolster kids’ confidence and independence, all while fostering friendships that remain intact long after summer ends.
“What makes us unique is we were designed specifically for this (neurodivergent) population,” says Chantal Ingram, philanthropy and marketing director for Camp Kirk.
“Our camp was thoughtfully designed with neurodivergent children in mind. Our staff ratio (one staff for every two kids) is different. Our training is different. All of our staff are trained in de-escalation. Sometimes there are anger issues involved. Our staff are trained in how to speak to kids. We also offer our counsellors the opportunity to speak to therapists if they’re stressed out. The camp is designed around these kids.”
VIDEO: Hear What Camp Kirk Campers have to Say…
That approach extends to the camp curriculum, notes Ingram.
“They get to choose what they’d like to do. It’s not ‘You have to do this at this time.’ They get that through the school year. For someone who has autism or ADHD, following the rules all the time, colouring inside the lines, can be really tough.”
“They might be in a classroom of 30 kids at school. They might be the only kid that has ADHD, or is on the autism spectrum, Here, everybody has something. You’re no longer that sort of weird or unique kid. You’re just like everybody else.”
Ingram explains the camp’s wholly non-judgmental atmosphere is further enhanced by the cabin assignments.
“Our camp director (Claire Beddoe) and our assistant camp director (Autumn Nevilles-Kincaide) match kids who they think will get along. What we hear consistently from campers is they make friends for the first time. These kids get a confidence that takes them throughout the year. It lasts.”
“A young man named Max told me just this past Saturday, he had a lot of anger issues when he was young. He’s been coming to camp for 10 years. He’s now 17 years old and he’s in our leader-in-training program. He said ‘You need to understand how much this helped me, but it also helped my family.'”
“Imagine having a child who never fits in, who the school is always calling you for because of behaviour issues. You send them to other programs, lessons or hockey or dance. Those things become complicated when a child has to follow rules and has trouble with that. So, this (Camp Kirk) is an opportunity for parents to get a break and to understand their child is completely safe.”
Ingram is particularly proud of the leadership-in-training program referenced above, noting more than 25 per cent of the camp’s staff are former campers who have grown into taking on leadership roles.
“That’s for older kids, from 16 to 18 years old,” she explains.
“One of the things they do is a canoe portage trip. I was chatting with them about their trip, which was a week ago. They told me how it alone gives them leadership opportunities. Leaders form in different moments. Someone is leading the portage, someone is leading the canoeing, someone is leading at meal time and setting up tents. It just gives them an opportunity to really shine. For a lot of them, it’s really outside their comfort zone. They come back absolutely exhausted but so proud of themselves.”
Camp Kirk also offers an inclusive employment program.
“We had campers who loved camp so much, they couldn’t give it up,” says Ingram.
“For some of them, the transition to being a counsellor made sense. We have kids that are very high functioning that you would meet and have a conversation with, and you wouldn’t know they’re on the spectrum. For them to walk into a leadership role as a counsellor for the next generation makes sense.”
“We have other jobs at camp. They’re not created for neurodivergent kids specifically, but they are inclusive positions.”
Ingram points to the experience of Cameron, who has been coming to Camp Kirk for 14 years.
“He did our leader-in-training program but what became clear was being a camp counsellor wasn’t the right fit for him. Cameron does things like laundry, cleaning — all kinds of different jobs. He loves it. I met with Cameron and his dad at their home just before camp started. Cameron told me he was also doing a work placement in Oshawa where they live. He said a lot of the skills he learned working at Camp Kirk he has been able to use at his work placement.”
“What we’re trying to do is this real wrap-around support. You can become a camper. You can become a leader-in-training. You can get a job. Outside of camp, you can translate that into other work.”
Like any camp experience, the costs associated with providing that experience are considerable, and rising each year. But, believing cost should never be a reason a child can’t attend, Camp Kirk provides subsidies. The fundraising concert at the Academy Theatre will see the money raised go directly to that pot.
“Our costs to run the camp are higher, but we don’t pass that on to the campers,” Ingram points out. “Our full-price fees average about $1,500 to $2,000 less than what it actually costs us. We had subsidy requests that totalled about $160,000 this year.”
When it comes to day-to-day maintenance, the continued commitment to Camp Kirk by Lions members is huge, says Ingram. She notes increased incidents of severe weather in recent years have taken a toll on camp infrastructure.
“Because of that partnership, it’s given us a door to lot of other Lions clubs. We apply (for funding) to Lions clubs all over Ontario, but we still have a funding gap. We write grants, we get subsidies from all sorts of different corporations, we have a lot of very generous individual donors — but a lot of that goes back into the costs of running the camp.”
A mother to two neurodivergent kids herself, Ingram came to Camp Kirk just six months ago, bringing to her position several years as a fundraiser for other organizations. Over that short time, she’s discovered “something really magical” about the camp.
“You might start with a child who says he doesn’t have friends at school and is alone, but then you see them at camp and they’re surrounded by people. The work is very satisfying in that way.”
VIDEO: The Last of the Duke Street Kings promo video
The August 22 concert featuring The Last of the Duke Street Kings starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $58 all-in, and are available at www.flatoacademytheatre.com.
Attendees can expect a generous collection of the many hits recorded by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, including “Thunder Road,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Glory Days,” “Hungry Heart,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Badlands,” “Born to Run,” and more.
Ingram notes the fundraiser, while providing the obvious benefit, may provide another windfall.
“You never know who’s sitting in the audience and what their connection could be,” she says. “There could be someone who’s neurodivergent sitting in the audience and they connect with us. The next thing you know, we’ve got a $10,000 donor.”
For more information about Camp Kirk, the programs offered and other ways to support its work, visit campkirk.com.
