Blog

Celebrating 20 years at Camp Smitty

There’s a moment every year when the trucks pull in, the tools come out, and Camp Smitty starts to feel like home again. The canoes are racked. The fire pit is ready for the evening. Somewhere near the water, a counsellor is already gathering kids for the next activity.

This year marked our 20th year coming to Camp Smitty. Twenty years of workdays, bonfires and projects that started as ideas and are now part of every camper’s summer. And twenty years of seeing firsthand what a place like this means to the kids who get to be here.

The Amsted team at Camp Smitty for the 20th anniversary weekend

In this blog

  • What makes Camp Smitty such a special place to spend a summer
  • Two decades of work around Camp
  • Why this year’s biggest project felt right for year 20
  • What $2 million in support looks like when you count it in campers
  • Why our team keeps coming back

A place built around the outdoors

Camp Smitty is run by BGC Ottawa, and for many of the kids who come here, it’s their first real taste of the outdoors. Swimming, canoeing, campfires, nights in a cabin with new friends. The kind of summer that stays with you.

This summer at Camp:

  • 466 children and youth, ages 7 to 15, spent part of their summer at Camp
  • 130 campers set out on 8 overnight canoe trips, some sleeping outside the main camp for the first time
  • 38 Leaders-in-Training, aged 14 to 16, took multi-day canoe trips through Algonquin Park
  • Many staff are former campers, returning to lead the next generation

That cycle of mentorship and belonging runs through everything at Camp Smitty, and you feel it the moment you arrive.

Camp Smitty grounds

Two decades of work around Camp

Coming back every year, it’s easy to forget how much Camp has changed. Things that feel like they’ve always been here were once just ideas on a list:

  • Treehouses and an outdoor kitchen
  • The cook’s cabin
  • Pavilions
  • The entrance fence
  • A storage building beside the Rec Hall
  • Windows that open and a fireplace to gather around

Add to that twenty years of roofs, decks, trails, repairs, and rebuilds across a property with 45 buildings. There’s always more to do, and that’s part of what keeps us coming back.

A fitting project for year 20

This year added one of the most significant projects in our history at Camp: the full restoration of Smith-Homestead Foundation Hall, formerly SOM Hall.

  • Last year’s workday: demolition and preparation for the rebuild
  • This spring: the fully restored Hall officially reopened
  • Today: back at the centre of camp life, a place for campers and staff to gather, celebrate, and make memories

The restoration came together through years of planning, generous donors, and our construction and trade partners, with Steve and Fred Barkhouse and the Amsted team leading the way. To mark it, our team signed one of the Hall’s interior siding boards at our 20th anniversary dinner, a permanent piece of a building made to serve the next generation of campers.

The restored Smith-Homestead Foundation Hall at Camp Smitty

What 20 years adds up to

Between Amsted and our partners, more than $2 million in in-kind support: labour, materials, equipment, expertise, and time. Here’s another way to look at it.

$2M+in in-kind support over 20 years
$1,200to send one child to Camp
1,668kids’ camp experiences

With 466 campers welcomed this summer, that’s more than three and a half full summers of kids at Camp.

Why we keep coming back

The buildings, roofs, and trails are what we see. The real impact is what they make possible.

  • 94% of campers attended at a reduced fee or with financial assistance this summer
  • For many families, an overnight camp experience simply wouldn’t be possible otherwise
  • 100% of surveyed campers said Camp helped them develop skills they’ll use in the future

What kids bring home goes well beyond a fun week: new friendships, independence, confidence, and a stronger sense of belonging.

“Camp was really fun because we got to try so many different things. I liked canoeing and playing games the most. The counsellors were really nice and made sure everyone could join in.”

Yusuf, 10, Camp Smitty camper

Every job we finish, from a new steel roof to a freshly painted door, becomes part of a place where kids discover what they’re capable of. That’s why this weekend has always been about more than the project list.

Year 20, on the ground

This year’s project list:

  • Door painting and installation
  • Pavilion work
  • Levelling buildings
  • A new steel roof
  • Gardens and brushing

Families came along too, with Camp counsellors running activities so kids could join in camp life, work alongside their parents, or move between the two. When tools went down, the celebration started:

  • A Summer Throwback Challenge with potato sack races and egg tosses
  • Fireworks and a bonfire
  • The tie-dye anniversary shirts everyone had been asking for, finally
Amsted team working on projects at Camp Smitty
Amsted team getting ready for a game during the Summer Throwback Challenge

Thank you, from all of us

None of this came from one person or one company. More than $2 million in support came from people donating materials, supplying equipment, giving their time and expertise, and showing up at Camp to help however they could. Thank you to:

  • Camp Smitty and BGC Ottawa
  • Our partners and suppliers
  • The Amsted team, past and present
  • The families and friends who make this weekend what it is

This anniversary belongs to all of you.

Here’s to the next 20.