I’ve had the most interesting conversations over the past few weeks. As I’ve visited with both local residents and visiting tourists, I realized that there are some basic questions regarding Camp Homewood that are asked frequently. I thought it would be fun today to ask these same questions to Irwin, our Camp Director (who also happens to be my husband) and let him answer them for you. As this is my first frolic into the area of “journalistic interviews” (a term I’m using loosely here!), I tried to make it as authentic as possible. I called him from our home phone to his office number, read him the questions and typed his answers…no editing allowed!
{Irwin and me}
Before we get started, I need to fill you in on a little background. One of the most common misconceptions about our camp is that people think it only operates during the months of July and August… {and then the staff must just sit around and twiddle our thumbs the rest of the year?…} I tackled that one right off the bat:
me: Now that summer is over, what are you doing with all your free time?
Irwin: {laughs!!! } You’re nasty!… We have many groups that come in Winter time and the Fall is often time to catch up on all those things you’ve been putting off since May. Now, do you mean me personally, or the whole camp?
me: the whole camp
Irwin: OK. We are a year-round camp. The activity doesn’t stop on September 1st. The camp takes a few weeks off from booking groups in September, and then we’re busy until the 1st of December. Rental groups resume again in January. January starts what I call the “snowball effect”. It starts rolling, and just gets busier and busier from there.
me: How many acres is Camp Homewood situated on?
Irwin: over 200
me: Who owns Camp Homewood?
Irwin: Camp Homewood was begun as Pacific Coast Children’s Mission back in 1944. All the land that has been purchased over the years belongs to the Mission itself ~ which is run by a board of directors.
me: I’ve heard Camp Homewood is a “religious camp”. What does that mean?
Irwin: Our mission states (here, I’ll read it to you) “The mission of Camp Homewood is to present the love of God and the claims of Christ on an individuals life in an unthreatening atmosphere through quality programs and caring relationships utilizing God’s creation.”
me: Wow, that’s long! So, what does it mean?
Irwin: So, basically, we are a Christian camp, but not a denominational camp. We work with many different churches.
me: Are you a church, then?
Irwin: No. We are what’s called a “para-church organization” ~ which means we like to work along-side the church. We encourage all of our staff to be a part of a church somewhere.
me: How many staff members do you have?
Irwin: 6 couples/ families and 8 single staff.
me: Of those, how many are full-time?
Irwin: All of the families and 3 of the singles.
me: Do the camp fees pay for the salaries of the full-time camp staff?
Irwin: No they don’t. All the full-time staff are asked to raise most of their support ~ similar to those who work with mission organizations throughout the world. We consider our full-time staff to be missionaries.
me: What expenses does the camp fee help cover?
Irwin: Camp fees help cover the basic operation of the camp ~ from the food to hydro to telephone to equipment to horses… Any capital expenses (anything we build or buy) are met through specific fundraising.
me: How many years have you worked at the camp?
Irwin: Since 1992… I guess that would mean 20 years this May… We’re old, Baby!
me: That’s all I can think of right now. It’s coffee time. Want to meet me at the Lodge??
Irwin: Sure
me: You know I had that typed in my script already… It’s not really coffee time…
Irwin: {Laughs…} You brat!
Well, I hope that clears up some of the questions you may have had about our camp as well. If you have any more questions you’d like me to ask the director in {perhaps} a future interview, e-mail them to me at harbourbreeze@hotmail.ca.
Hi Rita,
ReplyDeleteI wish I had this 3 years ago, it would have made it easier for me to explain where I was going.
Chewy