By Colleen A.J. Smith

Community comes together to help local kids go to camp

Jun 1, 2016 | 5:00 PM

It’s the 25th anniversary of Tim Hortons’ “Camp Day” and the local community is getting behind the movement.

All Tim Hortons locations in the Battlefords region were serving up cups of hot java today, June 1, to give children from low-income families a summer they will never forget.

People from all over the city were swinging through the drive-thru or stop in for a coffee because their contributions were going towards helping two of their community’s own children gain an exciting opportunity to experience the great outdoors at Lake Kananaskis in Alberta.

Brett Michnik, owner and operator of the Territorial Dr. location in North Battleford said this was the tenth year he’d been watching people coming out in droves to support the cause.

“It’s always good. It grows as we add more restaurants,” Michnik said. “The amount of support just grows.”

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Although the initiative is an international campaign, Michnik says the real success of the day was not due to its size but to the efforts of the community which comes together to create great experiences for customers and the prospective campers.

Members of the local RCMP also came in to help out behind the counter and at the drive-thru window. Michnik said their volunteer efforts are a big help in procuring more donations to send the kids to camp.

“The RCMP has been a great supporter of this for years,” Michnik said. “They come in and just volunteer and get more donations for the camp.”

Michnik mentioned the EMS ambulance workers have also been involved. In the past, other volunteers included the local hockey team and staff members from surrounding businesses have been known to pop in and lend their hands to help the cause.

“We get family and friends, last year we had the AAA North Stars get involved (and) some of the ladies who belong in the offices from the surrounding malls,” Michnik said. “It’s nice to see people out and supporting the cause.”

Michnik also said the staff members get in to the spirit of the day by decorating the restaurant in assorted camp paraphernalia. Sand buckets and beach balls could be seen hanging from the roof, adding a camp-like ambience to celebrate the occasion.

The Tim Hortons camp is a short bus drive away from Calgary and hosts a variety of fun activities such as rafting, swimming and horseback riding.

Michnick said the program exposes children to fun activities but also social bonding exercises and skill building initiatives.

“I’ve been there once; it’s very nice and they get to do all of the camp things like building fires and all of that social stuff,” Michnik said.

Email: Colleen.smith@jpbg.ca

Twitter: ColleenAJSmith