No gear, no problem: Camp Connections regroups at Yellowknife site

A week after a wildfire forced young foster children from their summercamp on Yellowknife's Ingraham Trail, Camp Connections has a plan to keep the program going, even without their gear.

Camp Connections is a camp for children in foster care or receiving support from social services. On July 14 staff at the camp near Reid Lake noticed smoke.

Minutes later six workers and 13 children were fleeing through the flames of an approaching wildfire.

• 'Within about 10 minutes we were into the fire,' says camper evacuated from Reid Lake

"I instructed them to leave everything and go as fast as they could," says Tammy Roberts, executive director of the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT.

All the camp's gear, such assleeping bags, cooking supplies and crafts, were left behind. And making matters worse, the children,all between age 12 and 14,had to leave their personal belongings something especially difficult for children in the foster system.

"The youth that are attending our camp have suffered loss their entire lives," Roberts says.

Children going in and out of care are often uprooted from their homes.

"Unfortunately, a lot of times, they have to leave their belongings behind and start fresh again."

So earlier this week when staff were allowed back briefly tothe site for a quick retrieval, they focused on getting the children's personal effects and left all the camping gear behind.

New site, no equipment

The fire sparedthe Camp Connections site but now it'sbeing used as a base for firefighters. The camp's next sessions are going to be held at Yellowknife's Folk on the Rocks site.

But without their gear, Roberts says they're turning to the kindness of Yellowknifers.

They're looking for donations ofitems such aspropane tanks, plates, utensils, sleeping mats and sports gear.

"Something that's really important to the youth is their games and crafts when we're in camp sessions," she says.

"Of course we had to leave all of that behind as well, so we're looking for some donations of craft supplies, and paint and brushes and paper."

The Foster Family Coalition has posted a full list of the items they need on theirFacebook page. The next week-long camp session starts on Friday.