Located less than 30 minutes west of Weyburn is Trossachs Gospel Camp (TGC), one of Saskatchewan's oldest camps, recently finishing their 111th year of summer programming.
TGC chairperson Rob Howard reflects on their recent camp season that wrapped up last week, which included programming for different adolescent age groups, and two family camps.
“We have two family camps that kind of bookend our summer and then during the rest of the summer we have a kids camp, a junior teen, and a senior teen camp. We had just shy of 120 kids this summer between all the three camps.”
“Kids did some wild things, things they've never done before. The rain didn't seem to stop us, and we had a lot of fun this summer.”
Of the campers that came, 50 were able to attend thanks to their sponsorship program, that allows kids to attend that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it.
Howard describes some of the activities campers enjoyed this summer, including archery, air riflery, and laser tag. He notes their redneck slide as a particular highlight.
“It's a giant slip and slide made out of puck board. Kids go down on inflatable boats and land up in a big pool at the bottom, lots of screaming and yelling and having fun and hooting and hollering.”
Still, Howard says most campers regard the services as their camp highlight.
“We ask all of our campers afterwards what the highlight of the week is and that generally tends to be the thing that comes up on top, which makes us all the more joyful.”
The services are what put the ‘gospel’ in Trossachs Gospel Camp, as Howard explains the mission and purpose behind the camp. He says they are gospel oriented, with the aim of teaching kids about Christ.
“Not just that he was a historical figure, but that he is present today and that he cares about the things that they're going through. We do teach on things like the Holy Spirit and on Scripture and just kind of open kids' eyes to being able to hear from God and learning how to read the word for themselves. Ask some great questions and maybe come up with some great answers.”
Even after 111 years in operation, the camp is continuing to grow as they work towards making their facilities fun all year round. Howard says they have already been able to expand to allow for use partway through May until the end of October. This is part of a building they are working on, that will take roughly $2 million to complete.
“That would make us an all-season camp, and there’s lots of exciting things that we want to tackle in the community. Open things up so that people in and around Weyburn, Radville, and Trossachs, and as far down as Pangman and Ogema as well, can utilize the facility and do some more things out there. That's our hope and our goal.”
Anyone looking to support the camp and their project can donate online at tgccamp@gmail.com. Howard says they hope to see more people get involved with the camp and suggests their upcoming event as a way to start.
“We are going to be hosting a big camp day on the 21st of September. We'll have some stuff out there. We'll have hot dogs and hamburgers for people to enjoy. No cost, but donations would gladly be accepted. It's a great way to come check out the camp and see what we're about.”