Transportation Update- Friday Feb 21, 2014

This is to update folks who are trying to get into YMCA Wanakita today: Our camp road is extremely slippery, which may cause a delay in arriving at camp or leaving.

If you are a bus driver or teacher from a school arriving today, please let us know if you will be arriving later than expected (call Andrea Pepe at 1800-387-5081 ex 236), or if you have trouble getting here.

If you are a parent expecting your children either home or to arrive at camp today, we will post on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/campwanakita) when everyone is safely here or have left. Your school should have more information about the status of their bus.

Also note that we have limited staff in the office today because of the road conditions. If you need to speak with someone, call Andrea at the number above, or email andrea_pepe@ymca.ca

Wanakita Winter Wonderland!

Many people know Wanakita as a summer camp- and only get to see our site in the summer (warm sunny days, an active waterfront, bugs, and long daylight hours). However, we're actually open almost all year long, serving school and other community groups in outdoor education, leadership, recreation and fun! This means cool (or COLD) days, changing leaves in the fall, new spring life, lots of snow and ice in the winter, shorter daylight and learning new skills like cross country skiing, pond ecology, winter ecology etc. All three seasons provide a fun, cozy, beautiful time of year. 

Right now, winter is in full swing here at Wanakita in the Haliburton Highlands! 

January is a busy month for us, and we've had a great mix of groups visit our site!

 Here's a list of some of our highlights:

• New Year's Family Camp - We had about 60 people (from babies to grandparents) visit for 4 days of traditional winter programs, and a night of dancing and celebrating the new year together!

• Fleming College - Residence Life re-treat. The don's from the college (Peterborough and Lindsay) visited to partake in some team-building and traditional winter programs (skiing, snow shoeing, broomball, skating on the lake)

• James Cardinal McGuigan Collegiate High School - The L.E.A.D program came to Wanakita for some team-building and winter programming. They had great fun in the evenings too, letting loose, dancing and having fun, silly times!

• Alive Outdoors Inc. brought in their first group of the season, the Grade 8's from St. Micheal's College, to our site for a three-day winter program. The group of 120 boys had a great time playing in the snow, as well as doing some team-building and goal setting. They have been bringing their grade 8 boys to Wanakita for over 10 years!

• Heartlake Secondary School - A new group to Wanakita, they were group of high-school students focusing on outdoor adventure, and even built and slept out in quinzee's (snow shelters) for one night. 

The Wanakita Staff Team: We are fortunate to welcome 16 experienced, and enthusiastic staff to Wanakita this winter, as well as some new senior management. Returning after several years in the outdoor world elsewhere is Andrea Pepe as the Outdoor Centre Director. Returning this winter as well, in the role of Lead Facilitator, is Elspeth Strain. As well, a long time seasonal staff member, Mike Thaler, has joined the full-time team here at YMCA Wanakita in the role of Program Coordinator.

We have lots more groups to visit us this winter season, and we are looking forward to all of them! If you have any questions about bringing a group of your own here to Wanakita, contact us at wanakita@ymca.ca!

Fall Work Weekend was a Huge Sucess!

This past weekend, while many were indoors, avoiding the cold, wet snowy weather, some of Wanakita's most dedicated past and present staff and campers, friends and family were dedicated to being outdoors, spending their time cleaning up our site! We rely on these wonderful volunteers every year to help us prepare our site for winter. A big thank you to everyone involved!

We put away boats and summer equipment, put out winter equipment, chopped and stacked lots of wood, sanded and painted paddles and show shoes, raked leaves, and lots more! Thanks to the almost 70 people who participated in this fun annual work weekend! We couldn't do it without you! Lets do it all over again in the spring!

 We ended the weekend with some beautiful weather- blue skies and calm water!

Fall is in Full Force!

Fall at Wanakita is such a treasure! Its unfortunate that most of our clients don't get to experience the beautiful colours, crisp mornings and warm, breezy days that we've been having lately. However, we've had many schools up here so far this fall season, and they've been loving every minute! Below are some images from site! We're enjoying it now, because we know it will fade fast as nature makes way to welcome another beautiful season here at camp.

 The road to the Core!

 Day Camp Central!

 The swamp and WIC (Wilderness Interpretive Centre) building

 Lots of red at camp!

Clear skies and beautiful reflections!

The shores of Koshlong in the fall!

We have a HUGE West beach right now!

Beautiful sunsets in the fall here at Wanakita- East Beach

Thanks for a Great Time!

To all the Wanakita Family who attended our 60th Anniversary we would love to say thank you and thanks for coming out. For those who were unable to attend, we hope to see you around as much as possible in the future!

End of Summer!

Hello Friends!

The Summer 2013 Residential Camp has wrapped for the year, and I would like to pass along a big thank you to our campers, staff and parents for their support this season. The 2013 summer brought with it many cool opportunities for our campers, and we believe we had a successful summer. We believe this based on the feedback we have received thus far from some of our campers and parents, but we would appreciate more input.  

To those who have already spent the few minutes to fill out the survey, thank you very much, to those who have not, now is your chance to give us feedback based on your Wanakita experience. From start to finish: How did you find registration this year? Were the transportation arrangements satisfactory? Did you child get into the PCA of their choice? How was the overnight or out trip? Were the counsellors attentive? Were the games fun? How was the trip home? Will you be returning?

Please fill out the survey below, and help us improve our campers, and your experience.

YMCACamp2013.questionpro.com

Thank you for taking the time.

The GAMES!

The session D GAMES are well underway! The Blue Herons and Red Foxes are engaging in friendly, enthusiastic and intense competition under the watchful eye of the West Branch. Some challenges have included Inuit games, dodgeball, relay races, a scavenger hunt and an epic match of tug of war! Everyone is getting involved in the GAMES and their is so much spirit from the foxes and herons!