Camp Jordan improves appearance, accessibility
Camp Jordan is taking on a whole new look.
Located along Highway 3 in Jordan Falls, Camp Jordan is a Christian summer camp that opened in 1962, offering programs to young people ages eight to 18.
“Through grant, we have been able to install wheelchair ramps, a walking path between buildings and are planning to construct a wheelchair-accessible bathroom, to make the camp a place the disabled can attend,” says Wayne Dooks, who chairs Camp Jordan’s board of directors.
“The whole accessibility issue was brought up at a board meeting a year and a half ago,” explains board member Dan Peacock, who also serves as trustee of the property. “We knew it was going to be an expensive project.”
Camp Jordan’s board of directors committed themselves to resolving accessibility issues within the camp. Like the biblical miracle of loaves and fishes, the funding came through to make it happen.
The board made a presentation to the 100+ Women Who Care of Shelburne County chapter about making the camp wheelchair accessible.
In June 2017, 100+ Women Who Care of Shelburne County awarded a cheque for $9,700 to Camp Jordan. That served as seed money to generate even more funding.
The board applied for a federal grant worth $14,000, which was approved in mid-february. A stipulation for that grant is that the work must be completed within a year, so Peacock quickly began drawing up a detailed plan.
Wooden wheelchair ramps have been added to the main buildings and boys’ cabins, and individual concrete slab ramps were built for each doorway entrance to the girls’ cabins.
Volunteers had previously cleared overgrown areas of the property, built picnic tables and a barbecue shelter to create a dedicated picnic area. “You couldn’t see the water before,” Peacock notes. “It looks so much better now. Four years ago, this place was looking rundown and not attended to. It’s come a long way.”
A separate project was also developed out of private fundraising, which the board used to install a concrete slab two years ago with the goal of building a sports activity centre. In the meantime, the concrete slab served as an outdoor basketball court.
The board applied for an Atlantic Baptist Foundation grant. That grant funded the purchase of a new Tarp-rite metal frame and canvas cover, which have been installed on the concrete slab and will house the new sports activity centre.
Volunteers have been busy completing the sports activity centre, plus building the accessibility ramps and brightening the camp building’s exterior with a fresh coat of paint.
“I keep saying, God provides,” Peacock says. “We just keep moving forward with our plans. We’ve got more work to do, but we’re well on our way.”
For more information, visit Camp Jordan’s website at camp-jordan.ca.