Camp Chestermere and some other area non-profits had a bit of extra help at the end of July from a youth mission trip from Philadelphia.
“It’s an opportunity for them to use their hands and to work hard,” said Brian Russo, Youth Minister with the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia.
Twenty-Two youth accompanied by three adult leaders came up to stay and work at Camp Chestermere for the church’s annual youth mission trip.
Made up of high school aged kids, every fourth year they go on an international trip.
Alberta, someplace they have never been before, was chosen at the request of one of the youth who at 18-years-old is on is his last trip.
“We settled on the Calgary area when one of my youth…said he’s dying to go to Banff National Park,” said Russo.
After seeing some pictures of Banff, Russo didn’t need much more convincing and started looking for a camp they could partner with.
Camp Chestermere was chosen as the best fit for the trip which has a focus on doing manual labour and mission work.
Russo describes himself and the youth group as city slickers and this focus helps get them out of their comfort zones.
“That basically means is there’s hardly any manual labour,” he said of their life at home.
The missional component of the trip was completed working with the Mustard Seed in Calgary.
“We were able to not only serve them food but also meet with them individually and that’s just been huge for our group,” said Russo.
In being able to talk with the clients of the Mustard Seed, the youth had some of the stigmas and stereotypes of homelessness broken down.
Russo said that one conversation with a man named Regen was really important for the youth to hear.
“[He] set our kids kind of straight in the sense that the stigma of the homeless population is that they must have done something in their life to screw up to be there.
“This particular gentlemen told us how times can happen where your marriage falls apart your job no longer exists and you can’t pay the bills…and you’re out on the streets,” said Russo.
“And he pointed at each of our kids and said this could happen to you,” said Russo.
This has really helped the youth to understand the need to appreciate life and what they have.
“You just never know what can come,” he said.
When it comes to manual labour, the youth have been helping to renovate the camp’s gym.
“The labour here has been huge because we’ve been able to…use machinery that we’ve never been able to,” he said.
It has been great for the youth to see the transformation in the gym as each phase of work is completed.
The trip has been a great success, in the nine years that he has been doing these mission trips Russo said that Camp Chestermere has been the most amicable and friendliest group he has worked with.
That friendliness has actually been the source of some culture shock for the group.
With this the first time they have visited Canada they have experienced some mild culture shock since arriving in Calgary.
A lot of this comes from the contrast between how similar Calgary looks to American cities while the population’s attitudes are so different.
“The big difference that they found is the friendliness of the people,” said Russo, “so the culture shock was wow, everyone, no matter who we’re talking to…have all been really personable.”
