Children Head to Summer Camp

By Kalyna Taras

For three years children from across the province have come to St. Catharines for a Ukrainian summer camp.

Sponsored by the Ukrainian National Federation St. Catharines Branch, Camp Sonyashnyk will be in its fourth year this summer of 2011. Camp will run for five weeks between July and August at St. Georges Ukrainian Orthodox church. The camp will see many returning and new campers ages 5 to 13.

This Ukrainian summer camp is designed to bring together children from the Niagara Region and beyond to a place where they can learn about their culture and make new friends. The program includes daily trips to the local park, trips to the public pool, sports, crafts, games, cooking and more, all with a Ukrainian theme. In previous years the children have made Camp Sonyashnyk t-shirts and bags, spent a day making and eating varenyky, listening to popular Ukrainian music, participating in Ukrainian dancing and doing iconography.

The program started in July 2008. It ran for one week with seven registrants. By the following year there was more time given to planning, advertising and word-of-mouth. To our great surprise the camp grew from a handful of campers to over 20 children participating over a four weeks period in July and August.

Last year the camp was expanded to five weeks with 29 participants. There were some new faces and new activities in 2010 and all the children seemed as thrilled again that year.

As a camp we are proud to say we reached more than our targeted demographic. Many families came from around the Niagara Region with at least a quarter being from outside St. Catharines. On top of that, at least another quarter of campers came from outside Niagara. Having friends and family in St. Catharines people from as far as Brampton, Waterdown and Claremont have attended Camp Sonyashnyk.

As we head into summer 2011 we are looking forward to another successful and fun filled summer at Camp Sonyashnyk. It will be running for five weeks again, from Monday, July 4 to Friday, July 15; from Monday, July 25 to Friday, July 29; and from Monday, August 8 to Friday, August 19. For more information on the camp or for registration please contact Kalyna Taras at: campsonyashnyk@hotmail.com.