Camp Mannawanis: Children's camp already fully booked

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Last year, more than 120 children went to Camp Mannawanis free. They were joined by another 240 campers who paid about $60 for a full week of camping.

The camp is completely owned and operated by the St. Paul Manawanis Native Friendship Centre, which started a massive campaign called Send A Kid To Camp last year, gathering sponsorship from local businesses, Alberta Social Services and Indian Affairs.

Friendship Centre Executive Director Ray Chambers says "this year we are already totally booked for the whole summer, when we plan to run eight camps." He says 490 kids will go through Camp Mannawanis this summer and 175 of those kids will go on a sponsorship basis."

According to the executive director, single parent families making less than $11,000 a year are qualified to apply for sponsorship.

Svava Griffith, regional coordinator of the Boys and Girls Club of Alberta, says their organization rented the camp for a provincial leadership program, at a cost of about $40 a head for the 55 youths who went to the program last August. "The facility was great, although it wasn't quite complete yet," she says, "The kids really enjoyed the canoeing, sail boating and archery activities the camp offered."

The friendship centre began building the "accredited" summer camp, which will be completed by the end of 1987, at lower Therien Lake two years ago. Chambers says Camp Mannawanis is accredited because it has a fully qualified medical staff, waterfront workers and counsellors. "It's the first Native-run accredit camp because everything is built to code on it," he says.

The camp has modern facilities, a large activity area, an outdoor stage and three cabins that each sleep 24 children comfortably.

"We're really proud of the camp because it's a big accomplishment we've been able to do for the kids in this area," concluded Chambers.