Ontario Pioneer Camp

Port Sydney Ontario

This past semester I was employed as a volunteer at Ontario Pioneer Camp (OPC). For 80 years the camp has operated multiple summer programs at four sites on Lake Clearwater in Port Sydney, Ontario. Campers range in age from 5 to 18 and at anytime upwards of 500 campers may be registered around the various sites.  Throughout the year an outdoor education and retreat centre is operated where groups are accommodated for weekends or week-long periods.

Sustainability is a new concept at Ontario Pioneer Camp and although many aspects of the programming could be highlighted as sustainability successes, most to date are unintentional. My role as Director of Sustainability is to generate awareness and help develop a culture of sustainability.

Initially, the goals of this work term were very tangible. I was required to develop a mission statement on sustainability which could be adopted by all of the OPC’s programs and is in line with its core values and organization wide mission and vision. Secondly I needed to develop a set of long term goals for sustainability. And finally, my role required me to create opportunities for staff to become acquainted with sustainability and create an across-camp understanding as to why Ontario Pioneer Camp is moving in that direction.

In addition to these goals, I was working to facilitate sustainability conversations in all areas of operation. The idea was that these conversations could uncover current strengths and weaknesses related to our sustainability goals and help communicate ideas and possible solutions between programs. The “big picture” goal of this placement was to raise awareness and help move sustainability into the common conversation.

Accomplishments:

• Organization wide mission statement
• Long term sustainability goals
• Self assessment of program areas contribution to sustainability
• Sustainability incorporated in daily discussions
• Sustainability activity class
• Sustainability action plan