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Turning kids’ insecurity into pride

KERRY GILLESPIE IF YOU HAVE BEEN TOUCHED BY THE FRESH AIR FUND OR HAVE A STORY TO TELL, PLEASE EMAIL FRESHAIRFUND@THESTAR.CA.

Canoeing through pristine lakes, listening to the call of the loon, watching the shoreline for black bears — they’re all classic Canadian heritage moments, but too few Canadians actually experience such wilderness firsthand.

Project Canoe is helping change that and, more importantly still, it’s helping change the lives of youth who need positive experiences more than most.

On the bus ride north out of Toronto to Algonquin Provincial Park for the start of the five- or eight-day canoe trips, the campers-to-be try to play it cool. “They don’t even want to crack a smile,” said Segen Mehreteab, a program manager and former trip leader. “On the way back, they’re playing games and making silly jokes.”

Project Canoe focuses on serving youth 13 to 18 years old who otherwise wouldn’t be able to go to summer camp. Some two-thirds of their youth referrals come from children’s aid societies and mental health agencies.

Sleeping in tents under the stars, carrying canoes through portages and paddling as a team (in lovely weather or howling wind and rain) to get from Point A to Point B can all be very powerful experiences.

Ahead of time, the youth on these trips often mention concerns about bugs and whether food carried in a barrel for days and cooked over an open fire will taste good. (It does.) But the underlying fear, the big worry, is that they won’t be able to do it, Mehreteab said.

When they succeed, those feelings of insecurity are replaced by pride, feelings of hardship replaced by accomplishment.

“They really get excited about the fact that they made it through these hard things,” she said.

“We often tell our youth they can’t do things or that they have to have a certain skill set. And so, that discourages them from seeing what’s possible,” Mehreteab said. “So, it really comes down to reminding them of their own strengths.” She noted that camp counsellors’ help relate these outdoor experiences to the campers’ lives back home.

“A lot of these youth are going through difficult experiences and a hard portage may not be anything compared to some of the things that are happening in their lives,” Mehreteab said.

“There’s so much magic that can happen in just five days that has reverberating effects.”

Taisia Panfilova knows all about that. She was 13 when she went on her first canoe trip with Project Canoe. “It was one of the few positive things I was able to look forward to,” Panfilova said. “It changed me in many ways.”

She still remembers the first day of her first canoe trip: it was windy, the paddling day was long and hard, and she felt a little overwhelmed. “Once we finished that paddle and when we looked at the map of how far of a distance we actually went, it felt pretty good,” she said. She was hooked and returned as a camper every year until she turned 18.

Thinking back to her favourite experiences over the years, she included the satisfaction of getting through a hard paddle, hiking up to beautiful views, getting to know new people and the counsellors who taught her about everything from the stars in the sky to plants they came across. The one thing she remained “less thrilled” about was having wet feet, she said laughing.

“It’s nice to get away from your problems,” said Panfilova, who is now a student at the recently renamed Toronto Metropolitan University. “When people say nature is healing, it’s real.”

Anyone who has had the pleasure of experiencing a multi-day canoe trip knows there’s more than fun to be had — though there is plenty of that. One comes home with more just than memories of the beauty and vastness of Canada’s wilderness. “You can learn so much about yourself going on a canoe trip. And a lot of things that you learn, you can apply that to your own life,” said Jaimie Richard, Project Canoe’s director of operations.

“A lot of kids are surprised at how heavy a canoe is to carry, but also how much their body can do — like there’s more in them than they know,” Richards said. “That’s the biggest thing that happens.”

The Toronto Star’s Fresh Air Fund has been sending kids to summer camp for more than 120 years. Thanks to the generosity of Star readers, it provides annual support to more than 100 day and overnight camps, including Project Canoe. Through your donation, you can help give more than 25,000 disadvantaged and special-needs kids the opportunity to attend summer camp.

‘‘ It’s away nice from to get your problems. When people say nature is healing, it’s real. TAISIA PANFILOVA STUDENT

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2022-07-06T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-06T07:00:00.0000000Z

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