Including All Children in P.L.A.Y.

From the foundation who ensures a place for children at camp comes a new campaign that aims to include every child in sports.

The Sudbury Manitoulin Children’s Foundation (SMCF) graciously welcomes the Positive Leisure Activities for Youth (P.L.A.Y) campaign. The former initiative introduced by The Human League Association ensures financial assistance to children wishing to become involved in sports. Applicants can submit for up to $250 three times during the year and that funding will be directly paid for sports equipment.

The foundation’s area covers 50,000 square kilometers: Manitoulin Island out to Massey, Greater Sudbury as far East as Sturgeon Falls and up to Chapleau, Ontario.

It started in 1974 as a mom-and-pop initiative that evolved into a charitable organization in 1976. SMCF owned group homes that the Sudbury Manitoulin Children’s Aid rented for a nominal fee. In 1982, the society no longer required these homes, so the foundation sold them and used the proceeds, plus donations, to launch the Send-A-Kid-To-Camp program. This program covers the full complement of camp life experience from fees to transportation assistance to purchasing necessities like sleeping bags if children are in need. The idea is to help disadvantaged children experience childhood to the best of their abilities, which is still their mission today.

One lady who had gone to camp every year as a child remembers her mother worked three jobs to keep a roof over our head while she babysat. She said she still remembers the songs, and keeps in touch with friends she met. She became a social worker.

In the first few years of Salter-Dorland’s career, she recalls picking up quiet children in her station wagon on route to camp, but on the way home “they were yelling, screaming and handing out addresses. They looked like they rolled in mud but they were so happy.”

An estimated 20,000 children have been helped by Send-A-Kid-to-Camp with each being referred by approximately 50 organizations, some of which are Ontario Works, Ontario Disability, Children’s Mental Health, Sudbury Housing, Child and Family Centres and Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. Coming from a region that houses over 200,000 people, children being 50,000 of that population, those numbers are significant.

Should this organization, that has seen almost 50 years in operation, cease to exist there would be hundreds of children each year prevented from experiencing childhood as it should be.

“That would be a crying shame.”

An estimated 50 volunteers work diligently behind the scenes fundraising at bingos, social events, driving children back and forth to camp, helping children fill out forms. Some even go to the child’s home to ensure they have camp necessities and add what is needed.

Eight members comprise the board along with two hired hands: Anne Salter-Dorland, and a recent full time Program Director, Sarah Russell. What the board likes to do is ensure one project is secure before welcoming another.

“We are always looking for new board members. Everyone around the table is in it for the kids,” she says. “There are no hidden agendas or self-glorification.”

Working for a not-for-profit foundation was a natural fit for Salter-Dorland. She saw her parents volunteer in schools and hospitals, stepping in for those who couldn’t help themselves. The intent was to work for a couple of years then make her way back to southern Ontario. Thirty-one years later she is just as passionate about her career and looks forward to launching their new program.