Category Archives: Social Media

Activities, Adult Retreats, Camp Staff, Leadership Training, Social Media, Summer Camp

Qwanoes Happenings Here And Far Away

Men’s Retreat On Now

Our annual Men’s Retreat is on at Qwanoes right now! It started on Friday night when about 100 men descended on the camp. Mark Buchanan, author and pastor at New Life church in Duncan is the main speaker. The theme for the weekend is “One Thing.” It has been a powerful time together discovering what our “one thing” is and how it should be impacting our lives. The worship band from The Meeting Place church in Nanaimo has joined us for the weekend, and they are doing a fantastic job leading everyone in song.

Enjoying breakfast together at the Men's Retreat

I just got back from walking around the camp, checking out what everyone is up to. It is an incredible day here, with the sun shining so bright, and clear blue skies up above. There are guys enjoying the hot tub, cooking S’mores at the fireside overlooking the ocean, playing floor hockey, and of course hanging from ropes and swings in the Challenge Course!

I asked a few of the men what their favourite things are about being at Qwanoes for the Men’s Retreat, and this is what one gentleman had to say: “I love the fellowship and just being with my friends having fun at camp. It is so great to just get away and think about the things that truly matter in life.”

The retreat still has lots left with another great session together tonight, followed by a movie and games night including popcorn, chicken wings, and nachos!

Heading deeper into the cave!

Latest Kaléo Program Happenings

Our students are between classes right now, having had their Foundation of Church Ministry course a week ago and with Gospels coming up next week. Just a couple of days ago they all went on a caving adventure together where they truly discovered how dark darkness can really be! Check out the Kaléo program blog for the latest journeys of our Qwanoes students.

Birthday Surprises!

Anna and Byron, two of our Qwanoes staff members, have been up and down the Island lately and all over Greater Vancouver! Why, you ask? Well it has been all about visiting campers and summer staff, and celebrating some past campers’ birthdays with a surprise party – that’s right, Qwanoes style!

Anna & Bryon celebrating with Gabby at MEI in Abbotsford!

We’ve shown up at a couple of schools that our campers attend (with permission of course) having some games planned, Live It Up balloons, and a giant birthday cake along with us. We’ve made sure to gather a bunch of people who sing happy birthday while tossing the lucky camper up in the air, just like what happens at Qwanoes… and it has been one great birthday surprise! We miss our campers so much when they aren’t at camp, so we love to think up all sorts of reasons to visit them and let them know we’re thinking of them!

Qwanoes in Brazil 

A gathering of Qwanoes staff-alumni in Brazil on Nov. 20

Our Qwanoes staff family can be found all over the world, and one country in particular we have a lot of staff that join us for a season is Brazil!  Right now we have two Qwanoes staff members, Kevin and Mel Way and their little daughter Rose, reconnecting with alumni staff and meeting new ones who will be on our summer staff team in 2013. Mel, Kevin, and Rose are experiencing all sorts of adventures and even visiting summer camps in Brazil, seeing how they do camp down there!

Merry Christmas from Qwanoes!

Christmas is getting closer and that means the announcement of the summer 2013 theme is right around the corner! Be sure you are following us on Twitter and Facebook to be the first ones to hear what it is! Russ (“The Squirrel”) was in the studio all last week coming up with the new theme song!

~ Written by Jay Kennedy, Qwanoes’ Assistant Director

 

 


Activities, Adult Retreats, Camp Staff, Events, Leadership Training, Q-Town & Music, Social Media, Summer Camp, Youth Retreats

What A Summer!

It is a gorgeous sunny day at Qwanoes today and it really feels like summer camp should still be going on here! Today, we’re hosting a large high school guest group, Brentwood College, and it’s great having students here with us again at Qwanoes.

Celebrating An Amazing Summer

We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who was part of “Live It Up” summer 2012! Over 3,500 campers came to Qwanoes this summer and we loved having each one here. Our staff team of almost 400 people came together from across B.C. and Canada and over 10 different countries – all for the purpose of loving kids to life. Thanks to all our staff for your dedication, your love for kids, your servant hearts, and for being sold out to making a difference in the lives of kids!

In front of the transformed qrok Tower at our "Shine" Youth Camp banquet!

Each week of the summer was filled with highlights and special memories, from the start of Junior High #1 and the giant Canada Day party, all the way to the grand finale week of the summer… Youth Camp! Our theme “Live It Up” was made a reality as campers tried new activities like Paddle Surfing and RC Speedway, went on our giant slip ‘n’ slide called Big Blue, played games like Castle Conquest, went to the Surf-O-Rama concert or carnival, sang energetic songs and listened to a great speaker in Q-Town, spent time with friends and made new ones, enjoyed barbeques and other tasty food, hung out with incredible counselors and other staff, and so much more.

A fun glimpse of what went on can be seen by taking a look at our Facebook timeline and our tweets throughout the summer on Twitter. You can also see many photos from each week in the summer plus the Summer Family Retreat by taking a look at our Summer Photo Galleries page.

Kaléo Program Off & Running!

Students & staff gathered together in front of Club Coco last Thursday.

Last week, we were very excited to welcome 22 students to Qwanoes for the 2012/13 Kaléo program year! On Thursday, we had a staff & student beach party at Qwanoes Beach that included fun on the Aqua-Park, Paddle Surfing, and Rocket Plus activities behind the boat. On Friday and Saturday, the students received some practical training as challenge ropes course instructors – as well as getting to try some challenges out for themselves! Right now, they are on their first out-trip of the year  to Mt. Albert-Edward, the sixth highest peak on Vancouver Island, in Strathcona Provincial Park near Courtenay.

Staff & students having fun together on the field!

A Look Ahead Into Fall

We miss everyone and are so glad we don’t have to wait until next summer to see many of you! Lots of ways to stay connected are happening in the fall. Next week, the Qwanoes Road Tour will be coming to a location near many of you. We’re getting ready to bring the excitement of summer to Greater Vancouver, Victoria, and Parksville! Click here for full details including dates and locations… and to invite your friends. We can’t wait to see you there!!

Enjoy a typical Qwanoes evening at the Road Tour - from the energy of Q-Town to many crazy, interactive events!

In October and November, we have youth retreats – Juniors, Jr. High, Sr. High – as well as Women’s and Men’s retreats. Our retreats offer a weekend escape from the everyday, and a perfect chance to connect with God and others while experiencing the fun and energy of Qwanoes. Whether you were here in the summer or not, we would love to welcome you! To find out more about the fall retreats or to register, please see this link.

We wish everyone the best as the new school year has begun. Wherever you may be, we encourage you to live up this life that Jesus came for us to have to the very full the whole year through!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Activities, Events, Q-Town & Music, Social Media, Summer Camp

Action Here & Far Away

Jr. High #4 Cruising Right Along

We’ve been having a great week here at Qwanoes with Jr. High #4 on right now! Right now, tuck time is beginning and campers and counselors are gathering together on the field. Tunes are blasting from the qrok Tower and it’s time to hang out together on the main field! The weather was perfect this morning for “Wide Eyed & Liquified” – our wettest game of the week – and for going down our giant wet and sudsy water slide “Big Blue.”

Love this perfect summer weather!

More Sunny, Warm Days Ahead

Speaking of weather… the weather forecast at Camp Qwanoes is for just about perfect summer weather for the rest of Jr. High #4, all of Jr. High #5, and even into Juniors #3!

As many of you who live on Vancouver Island and in Greater Vancouver already know, we all experienced a huge electrical storm on Tuesday evening. At one point, part of this storm passed directly over Camp Qwanoes causing quite a bit of excitement. This happened right as the camp was enjoying “It’s Your Turn,” a time when each cabin group gets free time to do something fun together. As the storm got closer, the field was filled with people playing games and having a great time.

Everyone was evacuated safely to the cabins and buildings and no one was hurt. For many of us, the loudest crash of thunder we have ever heard occurred right after a lightning strike very close to the Pacific Woods Lodge!

Even our food services staff are in the spirit of the Olympics... see the message in the jello!

Victory For Canada! 

This morning, many of us were very excited to hear about Canada’s victory over France in the Bronze medal game in women’s soccer at the 2012 Olympics! Former Qwanoes camper Emily Zurrer is on the team and although she has been sidelined with an injury, she has been right there part of all the action.

Last week during Juniors #2, we showed a video from Emily in Q-Town talking about the buildup to the Olympics and sharing encouragement with all the campers and staff.  Since Canada was playing Great Britain the next day in the quarter-final, we sent Emily a new video of all of us cheering on Canada.

Our tweet to Emily before the game vs. Great Britain

After Canada won the game against Great Britain, Emily sent us a new video to thank us for our support and some of her teammates got in on this too! We showed this video in the first Q-Town at Jr. High #4. In the video Emily said, “We just want to say… a huge thank you for the video. You guys are awesome. It pumped our team up!”

Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc went on to say, “Hi Camp Qwanoes! We just want to thank you for the amazing video… we love you.” They said they hoped to make us proud and they sure did with their solid performance against the United States in the semi-final – followed by the huge win today against France!

See “‘Go Canada Go’ In Q-Town”:

See last week’s blog post Go Canada Go!  to see the first video we sent Emily.

Back to Jr. High #4… Looking forward to Q-Town and the Surf-O-Rama concert tonight, more activities and competitions like the Skate Comp tomorrow, plus everything else that happens on a Qwanoes day!

~Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Activities, Camp Staff, Events, Leadership Training, Social Media, Summer Camp

Summer Is Almost Here!

It’s June! That means that school is almost out and summer camp is about to begin! Lots is happening at camp every day at this point as we gear up for summer. Staff in every area at camp are hard at work getting ready – setting the stage for the adventure that is going to be lived out in the weeks ahead!

Enjoying the sunshine in a session on the Guest House lawn!

Last weekend, we had Staff Leadership Orientation with almost 40 leaders on our staff team. It is an exciting thing to see staff come together from diverse backgrounds and unite for the common purpose of helping kids discover, live, and share life like no other! Our team of Advance Crew staff is growing every week and we look forward to the arrival of many others on the summer staff team on June 22, the first day of Staff Training.

Now we’re only one week away from our annual Open House and everyone’s invited! Our brand-new Qwanoes Beach activities for summer 2012 will be available for the very first time including the Aqua Rope Swing and Freefall Slide… or be one of the first to try Paddle Surfing at Qwanoes!

The latest surf sensation... get ready to glide and explore!

Find out more about what’s new for summer 2012 here.

Speaking of new activities, another new activity is coming to Qwanoes this summer – in addition to the ones already announced earlier this year! We’re always seeking to make a week at camp one of the greatest weeks ever. Around Qwanoes there is always more fun and new adventure every year. No summer is ever the same! If you want to be one of the first to know what new activity is being introduced, be sure to follow Qwanoes on Twitter!

We can't wait to welcome everyone!

 

Just under 30 days until the camp buses and many cars roll down the road filled with campers and summer 2012 at Qwanoes begins!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Social Media, Summer Camp

Leave Summer Alone…?

At Qwanoes, it’s really starting to feel like summer is almost here! Today’s a beautiful, sunny, blue-sky day. Blossoms and new leaves are everywhere – and the grass is growing quickly. It’s so exciting to realize that our first camp of the summer, Jr. High #1, will be starting in 50 days!

We Love Summer!

Kids enjoying Qwanoes Beach in the summer!

At Qwanoes, we are in support of a school calendar that includes a traditional, full-length summer break. We believe so strongly in what happens in the summer when kids come to camp that we want to do everything we can to protect the summer break. Our hope is that as many kids as possible would be able to attend camp in the summer, the best time of year for kids and families to be enjoying the great outdoors of B.C.!

A Shorter Summer Vacation?

Last month, the B.C. government introduced Bill 36 (“School Amendment Act, 2012”). If Bill 36 goes through, it will eliminate mandatory school calendars in B.C. School districts may choose to have a more “balanced” schedule than what they have now.

But “balanced” unfortunately means a shorter summer vacation! Year-round schooling has the potential to change summer camp as we know it in B.C. For more information on this and what you could do to help, please see What’s This All About?

A Very Worthwhile Day In Victoria

Scott (Qwanoes’ Executive Director) and I went to Victoria on Monday to try to find out more about the thinking behind Bill 36, plus to share our concerns about year-round schooling. We had good meetings with the Director of Legislation for the Ministry of Education and with the Deputy Minister of Education.

Scott with the MLA's

Then we were sitting on the front steps of the B.C. Parliament Buildings when suddenly we realized we were surrounded by all the MLA’s of B.C. It was just the two of us, some photographers, and the MLA’s who had come out for a group picture. Scott and I took this unexpected opportunity to have a very good conversation with Doug Routley (MLA for Nanaimo-North Cowichan) about the implications of Bill 36.

Have You Seen “Leave Summer Alone” Yet?!

Meanwhile this past weekend Russ (a.k.a. The Squirrel) wrote a brand-new short song “Leave Summer Alone” on behalf of kids who love summer the way it is! Then a quick video shoot took place and a video was made for this new song.

Watch the video then share it with everyone! Facebook, Twitter, email, whatever way you want to… please help spread the word! #LeaveSummerAlone

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Activities, Social Media

An Iceberg On The West Coast?

Last Friday people across Canada saw a photo of people climbing on an iceberg on the front page of the National Post. The iceberg is floating in the icy water close to St. John’s, Newfoundland… on the east coast of Canada.

Icebergs on opposite Canadian coasts!

Apparently this is a rare feat and takes great skill, the right gear, a lot of courage, and willingness to be VERY cold!

Well – we invite these guys to come to the WEST COAST of Canada and dare to scale OUR iceberg! Our water is a lot warmer and there will be many people ready to join them to reach the summit!

Yes – a giant iceberg will be floating at Qwanoes Beach ready for all brave campers and staff this summer!

We have tons of fun on our iceberg and look forward to seeing you there!

Follow Qwanoes On Twitter!

If you don’t want to miss any updates from Qwanoes, make sure that you follow us on Twitter! Because Twitter is simple and efficient (140 characters max. per post), we can share the latest on Qwanoes as it happens as well as some fun, encouragement and interaction.

Often our tweets have helpful links, and you can decide what you want to read or watch. Twitter is a great way to get the latest real time news and info, to connect with us and others, to share your questions and ideas, and to see valuable content you may not have otherwise seen.

Feel free to tweet us – we’d love to interact with you this way! If you want to communicate privately on Twitter, you can do it with a direct message (DM).

“Until you use it you will not understand the power of Twitter to provide a rich kaleidoscope of news, people, connections, content, videos and images in real time….”~ Jeff Bullas, Social Media Expert

Here's a quick peek at Qwanoes' Twitter page!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Social Media, Youth Retreats

A Taste Of Summer

As summer is getting closer we’re enjoying more hours of sunlight in each day, it’s getting warmer, the scent of spring-time is in the air, the birds are chirping, trees are budding, and flowers are appearing… Spring is officially here! Pretty soon we’ll be having newborn fawns appearing again around Qwanoes – a rare but beautiful sight!

Spring Juniors Retreat Is Here!

Having fun together at Qwanoes!

Here at Qwanoes tonight, we can’t wait to welcome about 125 campers to our Juniors Retreat! Along with the staff already at camp, leaders are coming from all over and all of our students in the Kaléo program will be involved in running the retreat! Whether campers are coming for the very first time, or have been to a retreat or camp in the summer before, we are so excited that they will be part of this action-packed weekend.

Everything’s ready to go from the rooms, the food, activities, events, music, and everything else that makes a visit to Qwanoes so special. It may not be summer yet, but we look forward to experiencing a small taste of summer together this weekend!

Qwanoes On Facebook

The new cover photo on Qwanoes' official Facebook page!

If you haven’t done so already, we’d like to invite everyone on Facebook to ‘like’ Camp Qwanoes’ official Facebook page. Here you’ll find frequent updates including inspiring content, thoughts and follow-up, fun stuff, questions, and the latest happenings at Qwanoes. Looking forward to you joining us and the – as of today – over 1,900 others on our official page!!

The new cover photo on the Staff-Alumni account!

Qwanoes also has a Staff-Alumni Facebook account that is meant for people who are or have previously been Qwanoes staff members in any capacity. If you are staff-alumni, you can receive updates specifically relevant to you here, but we’d also love for you to be part of the official Qwanoes Facebook page that includes campers and everyone.

Thanks to everyone who has joined us on Facebook so far!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director