Summer Events with Independent Living Resource Center.

Independent Living Resource Center (ILRC) in Winnipeg is a wonderful and interesting organization that functions to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities. They have many many functions in our community but I have only been involved in a few of their more recreational functions so far. They host one or two seminars a month about safety and life issues. They also host a conference, some workshops and a variety of summer events.

Their summer events this year include a guided walk in Historic Downtown Winnipeg, an overnight camp at Fort Whyte Alive nature center, an adventure activity day also held at Fort Whyte and there will be a picnic at a different park in August. As well there is individual sailing for people with disabilities that can be booked through the organization.

I was not available to go on the waking tour but I have made it to the two events held at Fort Whyte.

The camp was as much fun this year as it was last year. My good friend Shawn came along and we had a great time together. We made new friends, ate good food and enjoyed the lovely surroundings; we went on some long walks and had a campfire. The highlight for both Shawn and myself was going sailing. Twice each!!!!

There were a couple of problems with the event. The fact that the organization's annual general meeting was the same night obviously put a lot of stress on the staff. They arranged to have streaming video into the camp common room so that everyone at camp could still participate in the meeting. That was a wonderful use of technology.

The most serious problem was the low number of people attending this year. I think there were only 9 participants plus the staff. At the opening of the camp it was announced that they had already made a decision to not have an overnight next year but have only a day camp. There is still the possibility that it could be done if they had the demand for about 30 people staying over. I could probably convince several other people to attend but how can I promote it and get my friends excited about an event that might not happen?

   The camp was seriously under-advertised.  I phoned inquiring about the camp because I had such a good time the year before. The person told me that there was no information available about such an event.  The first time I saw the poster and realized it was indeed happening was at their conference only a couple of weeks before the camp. Other people who attended the camp also complained that they had been unsuccessful in finding information earlier.  What about any new people who might have wanted to attend? There was no information or posters about the camp at any of the other organizations I attend either.

 

All these things can be fixed, so I am hoping it will all still come together for next year. An event like this is expensive to operate and no doubt is a stress on staff that only organizes something like this once a year. Accessible camping is a wonderful opportunity for making friends, and enjoying a variety of activities. Through Guiding I have attended a ton of camps and find that they are always stressful in certain ways but the benefits in learning, skill building and gaining independence are huge. At the same time fun, friendship, and team development are enjoyed. ILRC has a truly great location and good program already going and it will be a shame it this was the last overnight camp. 

I wonder what I can do to help with this camp and I am really not sure. I have lots of experience and I have lots of resources available and people who would volunteer to help at an actual camp, but how do you convince people that they should attend as a "camper"? How can you show people that camping can indeed be an activity almost everyone can participate in?

 I attended the Adventure Day last Friday and I brought 3 friends with me. We met at Stroke Recovery, did an hour of Tai-Ji and then my friend Sue was kind enough to load up her car with people, a walker and a wheelchair and drive all the way across the city to Fort Whyte. We got there in time to have the BBQ lunch. Hiking, sailing, canoeing, powerboat rides and museum tours were all available. One highlight was going bumping along the trails for rides on a Bison Buggy ... kind of a 6-seater golf cart. The problem was the heat! Oh my goodness the heat was unbelievable for Winnipeg and everyone was trying to find shade or go in the air-conditioned building. Sailing was a bit of a bust too because there was not even a breeze to move all that heat around. I got a bit of a sunburn but it was worth it to have a day out with nice people.  My friends agreed it was a good time, and would love to do it again.... on a cooler day!