A group of local Girl Guide leaders is vowing to continue their fight to keep the gates of Camp Tewateno open in Springwater Township.
Joyce Goodenough is the president of the Camp Tewateno Optimist Club, which has been fighting to try to save the Midhurst camp from potentially being sold to local developers for the last five years.
Goodenough says the club officially signed an offer to purchase with Girl Guides of Canada last year.
“We have been trying to raise the money for about five years now," she told BarrieToday. "Just as we get things signed and we are ready to do our fundraising, COVID hit.”
BarrieToday reached out to Girl Guides of Canada, which declined to comment.
The local group has until the end of October to raise the $300,000 needed to purchase the 100-acre camp made up of 85 per cent wetlands. To date, their fundraising efforts are not going well, Goodenough said.
“We’ve done a few fundraisers… but right now only at about the $3,000 mark. We need to raise $300,000. We still have some ideas for other fundraisers and are hoping to apply for grants from the government. (We are also) hoping the community will help us raise the money," she said.
"We are just struggling along at this point doing our best and hoping that something comes through at the last minute.”
Goodenough says she and her husband have been maintaining the grounds. She says the group wants the community to know the camp is still there and that there are still people fighting to try to save it, but added at this point, they need some help.
“A lot of us are Guiders and have had years of working at the camp and have a close association with it. We just see the value of it with the girls that come in from all over Ontario," she said.
Camp Tewateno was designed so that every campsite honours a different part of the province’s history, explained Goodenough.
“We have teepees on the Six Nations site, on the Georgian site we have tent platforms, we have prospectors cabins, pioneer wagons and we have Wendake site where there are three longhouses,” she said.
Goodenough says the camp was closed by Girl Guides Canada last summer due to the pandemic and the organization has opted not to reopen it this summer, despite being allowed to do so under the current reopening plan.
“If we had owned the property, we could have opened it as a recreational camp,” she said, noting it would take approximately a month to prepare the camp to be reopened as they’d need to conduct water testing, do additional maintenance, as well as undergo inspections by the health and fire departments.
If successful, Goodenough says the camp will be available to not only guide groups, but other community groups that work with children.
“(It) is such a wonderful place to be. We have a site on the camp where we have a walkway and it’s called the Spirit Garden. It’s just a quiet place to sit overlooking Matheson Creek," she said.
"The girls love to go there as it’s a quiet place to contemplate life and take a moment,” Goodenough added. “I think (kids) today, after everything with COVID, need that quiet time. It’s a place to go and have fun with their friends again and get back into being in touch with nature, too.”
With only a month and a half to raise the money needed to purchase the camp, Goodenough admitted they are getting down to the wire.
They recently received $1,000 for providing 8,000 pounds of clothing to Value Village and approximately $700 from the sale of rain barrels, as well as a small amount from the sale of plants. She has also been in talks with various community groups and individuals about possible financial contributions, but said nothing has come to fruition yet.
Goodenough says she even phoned to make an appointment with a loan officer at her bank to see about getting a loan.
“We are always feeling stressed out," she added.
The group has discussed the potential of an extension on the offer to purchase with their lawyer, but acknowledged that would be up to Girl Guides of Canada to decide if they are willing to do so.
“If they don’t, then we are kind of messed up," Goodenough said.
Losing the camp would be heartbreaking not only for those who have worked there, but also for the girls who have enjoyed it over the years.
“There is something special about this property. When you come on the property, you get a feeling of peace and better health. It calms your brain.”
Donations can be made on the group's GoFundMe page.
