It is a Christmas Cheer that does not end in January. Davenport Perth Community Ministry went to Sparrow Lake Camp for the third time this year with 50 campers aged three to eighty-seven lined up to fill five cabins. As usual, at the last minute, we ended with 45 campers making the trip.

Three were in walkers yet glided happily to enjoy canoeing, kayaking, sailing, swimming, hiking, camp fires and making new and renewing friends. Worship came easily in the outdoors, when campers come face-to-face with the beauty of creation.

We heard read to us the book, Old Turtle by Douglas Wood, a fable about ecology, peace, and the interconnectedness of all beings. Many campers appreciated this interpretation of the story of creation.

Lara Powell, one of the five CSJ students for the Tasting Davenport Routes project, created a slide show to remember this event.

For many campers, this camp is the only chance to get out of the city in the summer. As we crossed the main highway and was bumper-to-bumper trudging back to the city, we can hear one of our friends wheezing. “Wow!” his friend remarked. “I did not hear that wheeze the whole time we were away at camp.”

I wondered what it was in that corner of Davenport Perth that made it difficult for campers like him to breathe. “Its those factories,” someone said. Yes. the factory that could not help him with a livelihood is now not affording him some fresh air to breathe.

Our thanks to the Presbyteries of Toronto Conference Corporation, Mission and Service, The United Church of Canada, The ED Lott Christmas Fund, and the staff at Sparrow Lake Camp!