Summer is finally here and there is so much to look forward to! Summertime means backyard BBQs, outdoor movie nights, baseball games, beach visits, swimming, laying by the pool eating ice cream, sitting by the bonfire with s’mores, and a ton of fun under the sun. But it also means that Virtual CYL is here… We have planned a ton of fun events and sessions for our youth to attend this year.
We hope you enjoy this edition of the CYL Alumni Newsletter, and we wish you and your loved ones a happy, healthy and exciting summer!
|
|
|
Summer is celebrated in many different ways around the world. Let’s look at some cool celebrations and festivals that summer brings about!
|
|
|
International Day of Friendship: July 30
|
|
|
The International Day of Friendship is celebrated by countries all around the world between the months of July and August. The United Nations made it an official holiday in July 2011. The first country to celebrate the holiday was Paraguay in 1958. We agree, there is no better time of year to celebrate your awesome friendships with the ones you love than in the summer!
|
|
|
|
Edinburgh Fringe Festival: August
|
|
|
This Scotland summer tradition is one of their most popular events of the year! The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, known as “Fringe” for short, features over 50,000 performances in 300 different venues over three exciting weeks in the summer. From circuses and musicals to cabarets and exhibitions, the Fringe Festival is an amazing celebration of Scottish art and culture.
|
|
|
|
La Tomatina Celebration in Spain: August
|
|
|
La Tomatina may be the messiest tradition of all time! In the town of Buñol, Spain summer is celebrated by pelting one another with tomatoes… The event attracts tens of thousands of people who look forward to participating in the two-hour-long food fight. Fun fact: It is also the largest state-sanctioned food fight in the world!
|
|
|
|
White Nights, St. Petersburg, Russia
|
|
|
Located approximately 90 miles from the Arctic Circle, St. Petersburg is known for having almost round-the-clock daylight during the summer. These ‘White Nights’ attract millions of tourists who look forward to the breathtaking attractions that the city has to offer; which can be seen at any time of day. Parties, firework displays, live music, operas, ballets and more are hosted during these beautiful summer nights.
|
|
|
|
There's still time to register for Virtual Camp!
|
|
CYL has gone virtual again this year, in order to keep each other safe and healthy. But that doesn’t mean we can’t host the most amazing virtual sessions ever!
This year’s Virtual CYL program is full of fun events and challenges that will help our youth learn and grow, make new memories, develop new friendships, and have a ton of fun! We are looking forward to meeting with new and old CYLers during these interactive and exciting events.
|
|
|
|
We have some new sessions you might not recognize including: a gaming lesson from a local professional Warzone player, and three challenges that task our CYL participants with working together as a team to come up with creative solutions to real world problems. If you or your children are interested in attending these or one of our other sessions, please register here before the sessions are full!
|
|
|
The History of the Warm Fuzzies
|
|
|
A long-standing tradition at CYL is to read the story of the Warm Fuzzies. This story demonstrates the importance of positive feedback; a kind word and an acknowledgment that someone was paying attention and values your unique self. The message of the Warm Fuzzies is the benefits you receive from living in a world where we demonstrate kindness, co-operation and recognition. The Warm Fuzzies is what we will remember the most throughout our lives, and changes how we feel about our self and the world around us. To read the story click here.
|
|
|
Jeff McCallum, CYL Facilitator
|
|
|
“CYL is like coming home. It is always nice to be at camp and to talk about things that I am passionate about - and to share that passion with others.”
|
|
Jeff has been a part of the co-operative movement for a very long time. In the past, he spent over ten years working in the agricultural co-operative sector. He currently works for Libro Credit Union and continues to volunteer his time as a facilitator at CYL camp – where he has volunteered his time as a facilitator and team lead over the last sixteen years!
“I remember learning of CYL in high school, as I was friends with someone that attended camp. It was not until a couple of years later that I became interested enough to attend, when I was representing 4-H at GROWMARK’s AGM in Chicago with some CYLers I knew from participating in the Junior Farmers Association of Ontario. By this time, however, I was too old to be a participant, so the following year (2006), I applied to facilitate at CYL camp. – and haven’t looked back.”
CYL holds a special place in all of our hearts. We all have our own unique memories and experiences to look back on. Jeff says that he learned a lot about himself through CYL.
“CYL has had such a huge impact on my life - my closest friends come from the CYL program. A significant part of my career has been in the co-op sector - which would not have been possible without the connections that I made at CYL. CYL is about more than just learning about a human-first business model - it is about learning what it is like to work in a team, whereby working together we collectively achieve more. It’s about learning compassion for others. It’s about finding out who you REALLY are.”
Jeff adds that CYL sparked a real passion for co-operatives in him that pushed him to further understand the importance of the sector.
“I am just entering my second year as a Director of Libro Credit Union after 6 years in our second tier of governance as an Owner Representative. Without my background from CYL, I would not have had the passion to pursue further involvement in the co-operative sector. CYL is what also really pushed me to understand co-operatives to the point where I wanted to be involved in governance. It is through my connections from CYL that I was recommended to apply to be an Owner Representative, and then those experiences ultimately led me to run for the board of directors.”
Since 1967, CYL has strived to change lives, teach youth about co-operatives, leadership, communication, teamwork and many other skills that youth can apply to all aspects of their life.
“CYL has given me the opportunity to practice communication skills, as I’ve experienced first-hand various CYL programs and sessions delivered by some excellent facilitators, as well as had the opportunity to deliver, adjust and re-deliver some of these programs over the years, to learn what really works and what doesn’t work.”
Volunteer facilitators like Jeff make it possible for CYL to run every year. And their lasting impact on the youth that come through our program will never be forgotten. We celebrate Jeff for being part of the CYL community since 2006!
|
|
|
It was a really difficult decision to move CYL to a virtual platform once again this year. We were anticipating how amazing it would be to greet all of our participants and facilitators on site at the Co-operative Education Centre (CEC) this summer. There is nothing like seeing the smile on everyone’s face as they arrive at camp and see friends from previous years, the noise at meal time when we yell out ‘CYL’ , the volleyball tournaments and sitting around the warmth and crackle of the
|
|
|
campfires. While we look forward to next summer, we also know in our hearts that we made the right decision. There is nothing more important to us than to ensure the health and safety of participants, facilitators and staff.
As is the case throughout my career in the co-operative sector, I have always looked to the co-operative principles to guide my decisions. The 7th co-operative principle Concern for Community came to mind when working with the team at OCA to make a decision on how we would move forward with CYL this year. Our co-operative community, along with the community at large, has to drive every decision we make.
There are still many questions to be answered about the pandemic. Many health measure need to be put into place, protocols for testing, identifying cases of COVID, quarantine procedures, etc. While this will still be top of mind in 2022, I am confident that we will be in a positon to work within the guidelines outlined by the Ontario Ministry of Health and the Ontario Camping Association. We will manage CYL with confidence, and assure all participants and their families that everyone who comes to camp will be in a safe environment.
So while we are not on site at the CEC, I am very happy to see all of the participants online at Virtual CYL, which we launched on July 5th! We’ve already had a lot of interesting conversations with youth about our social media platforms, the role of co-operatives in youth education, and some great ideas for our new artwork project. We look forward to the rest of the summer when we will host a variety of sessions like Cartooning, Minecraft, Impromptu Speaking and Portable Skills. In addition to these sessions, we are also hosting some really great challenges this summer. Join us for “Build-a-Co-op” challenge - with a focus on how to prepare youth for post-secondary studies, or the “Development of the CEC” challenge - where we will explore some great opportunities to develop the CEC site, the beautiful home of CYL.
Carol, Program Director
|
|
|
You can formally register to be a part of the CYL Alumni Group here! By creating an alumni group, we hope we can help you reconnect with old friends, make new friends and remember what made CYL so special. Your experiences are the same from many perspectives, but your journey to CYL, and after, are very different. We can’t wait to see how this group grows and develops with your involvement!
|
|
JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
Follow us for more camp memories, CYL updates and more fun information you don’t want to miss by clicking the this link!
|
|
For all your program inquiries, contact:
Email: cfleming@ontario.coop
Tel: 519-763-8271 ext. 25
|
|
|
|
PLEASE HELP A KID GO TO CAMP
A donation to the Bernie Daly Memorial Fund, or the Dorothy Watson CYL Bursary can go a long way in helping send a youth to CYL who may not otherwise have the means to go. Or, you can make a direct donation to CYL as well. Please consider supporting one of these initiatives, and give a kid the summer camp experience of a lifetime!
|
|
|
|
