Junior Camp thrives within Family Camp at Hills of Peace

By Marian Thompson, Family Camp Director

Family Camp at Hills of Peace was held August 2–7, 2025, with 59 campers in attendance for the long weekend. After the weekend there were some people leaving and some joining, so we averaged 45–50 for the remainder of the week. This is an increase from the last three years. We were privileged to have Apostle Shannon McAdam as guest minister along with Vonda DenBoer and Kristin Parmera from World Accord. An impromptu silent auction raised $4,328 for World Accord.

The main thing I would like to highlight this year came from trying something new. After the COVID years, Hills of Peace had trouble getting enough children to run a Junior Camp, even though we had staff in place. We decided to choose hope by running a camp within a camp. We were able to lower the age by one year because at night the children returned to their parents to sleep. This had the added benefits of not needing counsellors and drawing the parents of the children to stay for the week along with their children. The parents had long stretches of the day to participate in the Family Camp program.
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Junior Camp director Gwyn Beer, along with a variety of helpers, provided a special program for all the junior campers. There were nine children between ages 7 and 11, with two only able to stay for the weekend and two joining at the end of the weekend. The campers joined with the Family Camp until after breakfast, morning camp chores, and part of an intergenerational morning activity. They then had their own activities until joining the Family Camp for swimming time in the afternoon. Part of the Junior Camp program involved learning how to be campfire leaders. The children built the campfires (some were very creative due to rain), helped lead the adults in songs, and participated in skits.

Junior Camp was a big success as part of Family Camp! Much positive feedback was given by all for this new model.

Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to get together with old friends and make some new ones. We felt blessed by the presence of the Holy Spirit as we built community through worship, work, and play.