Seasons Greetings!
We offer a heartfelt thank you to each of the record-setting 167 participants who supported the 10th Annual Shader Kids Weekend at Camp Chief Hector YMCA in May, as well as the generous donors of auction items. Everyone enjoyed the scheduled events, not to mention the children’s events that allowed a 3rd generation of Shader Kids supporters to understand and participate in the celebration of Tim’s contribution to future outdoor leadership. At the Tim Ross Memorial Ball Hockey tourney, The West (a 5 line bench!) smoked the East (barely 2 lines despite continuous drafting!) before the awesome campfire and fundraising auction!
It has been another great year for all of us, with many living in the west feeling the very real economic consequences of needed governmental and environmental changes. With that in mind, we encourage you to consider staying in Canada for your family vacation this year and venturing to the shores of Gull Lake, ON to attend our 11th Annual Shader Kids Weekend at Kilcoo Camp – May 14th and 15th, 2016.
Dave Latimer (LUB!), Director of Kilcoo Camp had this to say about the event:
“What a weekend! My boys and I had such a special 3 days capped by a very special Reflections on the Sunday morning. We love that spot, the stories, the music, all so very special….good for the soul! Beth and Brooke really missed being there and were missed. Speaking of next year I want you to know that you are all welcome at Kilcoo. This weekend seems to be taking more of a family weekend (which is AWESOME…..Tim would love this!) and I urge you to make a weekend or longer of it. Let’s keep the momentum going and for those from the East who were not there…please mark it on your calendar now……more info to follow:
11th Annual Shader Kids Weekend at Kilcoo Camp – May 14 and 15th, 2016
For now, thanks to everyone who came and whenever you are at Hector, Kilcoo or Summit in the future., you will realize….there is nothing more important than sharing these moments with family and friends. We have Tim to thank for this! We miss him but as Mike put it so eloquently, “our terrible loss has also been our gain, because of all the people that have come into our lives”.
P.S. If it is nice in the Rockies….rent a Mustang convertible!!”
Geoff Park, Director at Camp Summit has also extended an invitation for all Shader Kids supporters to drop in to Summit to experience the dream he and Tim shared in Camp Summit’s developmental. The Parks would also love to host a future Shader Kids event at Camp Summit in Squamish, BC.
As a community we continue to make a difference for those recipients of the Shader Kids Foundation distributions. Scholarship recipients at Camp Chief Hector YMCA, campers at Kilcoo Camp in Ontario and Camp Summit in British Columbia are so appreciative of the opportunity to develop their outdoor leadership skills.
One of our most recent recipients of the Tim Ross Memorial Award for Leadership in an Outdoor Environment had this to say:
“I’m really thankful to have been chosen to receive The Shader Kids Scholarship. This will help me in my studies. I study far away from my home and being in an outdoor program is a little bit more expensive that some other programs. This could help me in my future project, because on the last semester in our program we need to do a PDP (personal development project) and to receive the Shader Kids scholarship will allow me to have better opportunities for my PDP. It will also help me focusing on my passion, the outdoors.”
As we suggest each year, if you are struggling with a Christmas or special occasion gift (birthday, anniversary, memorial or just “I love you”), please consider making a donation to Shader Kids in that person’s honour. http://www.shaderkids.com/donations/
May 2016 deliver your dreams for those less fortunate than ourselves,
The Shader Kids Team and Ross Family
Shader Kids is a charitable foundation that was established in the memory of Tim “Shader” Ross. The mission of the foundation is to develop youth leadership through outdoor experiences.