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Camp Bellaleo (1957- ) is a residential childrens' summer camp operated by the Lakeshore Lions Club.

Camp Bellaleo is located on Belwood Lake with approximately 18 acres of wooded and grassy land, 95 km from Toronto (near Guelph, Ontario, just outside the town of Fergus).

Camp Bellaleo is the summer home to boys and girls 7-16 years of age.

Overview

Lakeshore Lions Club
The Lakeshore Lions Club was founded in 1932 as a service club and has had a bountiful history. It is a legacy of a special group of local men whose dedication lifted them to great heights of personal involvement in the affairs of their community. The founding members of the Lakeshore Lions Club knew there was a great need in the community for a service organization.


Since its inception, the Lion members have raised and donated in excess of $3,000,000 within the local area. The Lions have ownded and operated the Lakeshore Lions Arena since 1949, providing local hockey teams with an ice surface to play their games. The Lakeshore Lions acquired Camp Bellaleo in 2002 and are proud of their involvement in this venture. They also have provided funds for many other projects.
Camp Location
Camp Bellaleo is located on Belwood Lake with approximately 18 acres of wooded and grassy land, 95 km from Toronto (near Guelph, Ontario, just outside the town of Fergus).

Camp Bellaleo Offers
Bellaleo offers supervised swimming in a heated pool, plus lessons in the Red Cross Aqua-Quest program.

Canoeing, water regattas, archery, fishing, creative games, arts & crafts, and initiative tasks.

Campfires, cook-outs, nature walks, campcraft, orienteering, and Sunday Chapel.

Skits, sing songs, cabin-group activities, and "Bellaleo Live" performances.

Accommodations
Campers, as well as their leaders, are lodged in clean spacious cabins with bunk beds.

Washrooms have flush toilets, hot water and showers.

Our kitchen staff of five serve wholesome meals in our dining hall. The kitchen facilities are inspected and licensed by the Health Department each summer.

A large craft hall with a fireplace is designed to allow programs to continue despite inclement weather.

Medical Care
First Aid Facilities are provided by an on-site Registered Nurse 24 hours a day. The camp doctor and Hospital are located in Fergus 10 minutes away.

Open House
Join us for our Open House and Barbeque at Camp Bellaleo on Sunday, June 25, 2006. Meet the leaders, have a tour and enjoy a swim. All are welcome.

How to Register
We encourage early registration as applications are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Your deposit must be submitted with the completed application form.

Further details, including a medical form and confidential form, a list of things to bring to camp, and information about open house & visitations will be provided after your application is received.

Transportation Included*
Buses depart from Lakeshore Lions Arena SHARP at 11:00am. Returning buses arrive back at 10:00am. View a map of how to get there.

one-week option campers may return home on the camp bus but they must find their own transportation to camp.

History

Camp Bellaleo is on Belwood Lake in the Grand River system; the Grand River opens into Belwood Lake at the town of Belwood and empties back into the Grand River flowing south through the town of Fergus. The camp land is leased from the Grand River Conservation Authority.

The Etobicoke-Queensway Lions Club opened the camp in 1957 and operated Bellaleo right up until 2001; the camp was closed in 2002 as Queensway Lions could no longer fund a project as big as this. Enter Lakeshore Lions, who re-opened Camp Bellaleo in 2003.

Camp Directors:
George and Norah Petrie (1957 - 1969),
Les and Marg Watson (1970 - 1990),
Peter and Nancy Allan (1991),
Jay and Vicki Haddad (1992 -).

When Jay and Vicki Haddad were hired as Directors, one of the conditions of their employment was that Bellaleo apply to the Ontario Camping Association to become an accredited camp. After two years as a Provisional Member, Camp Bellaleo was fully accredited in 1995 and remains an accredited O.C.A. camp to this day. In 1992 the camper age was 6 - 13 years and that age has been increased to 7 - 16 years.

As well, Camp Bellaleo has an active - and competitive - Counsellor-In-Training Programme where young people go through a two-year leadership apprenticeship experience before hopefully becoming a paid leader. We take approximately 10 males and 10 females per summer now for the C.I.T. Programme.

In 1992, all 6 Counsellors doubled as Activity Leaders and campers signed up each day to attend activities of their choice. Bellaleo now focuses on the "cabin-group experience" and each group of 8 spends almost the entire day together along with the Counsellor and C.I.T. who live in the same cabin (separate quarters) with their campers.

The Cabin names have changed from 1 through 6, to Cree (youngest), Ojibwe, Mohawk, Algonkin, Chippewa and Iroquois (oldest). The cabin groups have meals together and go to activities together and iron out difficulties together and there's an incredible bond that develops over a 14-day period.

Campers do get to choose some of the time: once a week we offer a sign-up day and include some fairly eclectic offerings: yoga, inukshuk building, aqua-fit, orienteering, boating rides, hiking to the reindeer farm, story time, henna body painting - as well as our usual: swimming, canoeing, archery, creative games, basketball, soccer, arts & crafts and games.

Philosophy

Each child has a right to feel safe and secure. Bellaleo endeavours to allow each child to grow emotionally, socially and spiritually in a caring and supportive environment.

All living things are inter-connected; we hope that campers learn trust, tolerance and co-operation through a program that nurtures these ideals.

Directors

Jay Haddad has spent over 32 of his summers involved in organized children's camping, C.I.T. Director at Kilcoo Camp and Program Director at Ontario Camp Leadership Centre. Director of Camp Bellaleo since 1992.

At the University of Ottawa's National Canoe Instructor's course, Jay walked away with the highest mark in Canada. Served on the National Executive of the Canadian Camping Association for 6 years. Recipient of the C.C.A.'s Award of Honor, for meritorious service to children's camping in Canada. National Editor of Canada Camping, the national magazine of the Canadian Camping Association for 6 years. Has been the guest speaker at Camping Conferences in every Province as well as New York and Houston. Jay is a Fellow of the Society of Camp Directors and was the President of the Society from 2000 to 2003. Recipient of the Lloyd Racknor Award at Humber Valley United Church, volunteering for 20 years as their Cub Leader (Akela).

For over 30 years Jay has been a full-time Professor of Psychology and Humanities at Humber College and resides in Toronto with his wife Vicki and sons Zachary and Noah, all whom are involved in the life and success of Camp Bellaleo.

A Day in the Life

Every day begins with reveille at 7:30, followed by the raising of the Canadian flag. Each morning we raise the flag to a different national anthem.

Breakfast is at 8:30 where a typical meal would be pancakes and sausages or cereal and muffins. Each morning alternates between warm and cold breakfasts.

Following breakfast, campers work together during cabin clean-up.

A bell rings at 10:00 signalling the start of the morning program. Campers participate in the activities with their cabin groups. In the morning, there are two, one-hour periods which may include Archery, Camp Craft, Canoeing, Arts & Crafts, Games, Creative Games, or Swimming... just to name a few. In between periods, there is a 15 minute Juice Break.

Lunch is at 1:00. A typical lunch might be spaghetti and ceasar salad, tacos, or macaroni and cheese. Following lunch, campers have a rest period until 2:30.

A bell rings at 2:30 to start the afternoon program. Like the morning program, there are two, one-hour periods as well as a Juice Break.

Dinner is at 6:00 and might be mini-pizzas, grilled cheese, jamaican beef patties, or hamburgers.

Every other day at 7:30, a bell will ring for Tuck. Tuck is a treat that every camper receives and it might be a bag of chips, a chocolate bar, or a popsicle.

Every evening a bell will go for Evening Program. The entire camp participates in Evening Program and some popular ones include Capture the Flag, Clue, Bellaleo Live, Campfires, and Murder Mystery.

We end each day with the lowering of the flag while we sing Taps. Following Taps, campers get ready for bed.

Activities

Below is a list of just some of the activities that we have at Bellaleo.

Archery,
Canoeing,
Swimming,
Soccer,
Basketball,
Arts & Crafts,
Ping Pong,
Camp Craft,
Creative Games,
Initiative Tasks,
Water Polo,
Fishing.

Sign Up Day

Once a week, as a change from the day one and two schedule, there is a Sign-Up Day.

Each camper has the opportunity to select which activities they would like to participate in for the day.

Instead of a typical day with 4 one-hour periods, the day is broken up into 6 forty-five minute periods.

Options include regular activities such as archery, canoeing, swimming, etc... and special activities such as yoga, nature walks, hairwraps, aquafit, and many more.

Bellaleo Live

On the first Thursday of each two-week session, we have a huge camp build-up for "Bellaleo Live", our performance night where each cabin, as well as Staff and C.I.T. offerings, performs in front of the entire camp.

Each "Bellaleo Live" since 1992 has been video-taped and stored in our archives; quite often, groups of leaders will request the VHS tape of a particular year to watch with groups of friends at camp each summer.

More importantly, though, that first Thursday night seems to be an important "turning point" in the lives of the campers throughout the entire camp. It's a coming together, a bonding, a creative turning point, a resolution of lots of little conflicts; whatever it is, it seems to be quite magical each session!

Theme Days

On the second Tuesday of every two-week session the camp participates in a special Theme Day.

Throughout the day, campers are treated to a special day of program that revolves around a particular theme.

Past Theme Days include, Hallowe'en, Christmas, Olympic Day, Survivor Day, Tropicana, Lord of the Rings Day, and Star Wars Day.

The day begins with the announcement of the theme day and the dividing of the teams at flag raising. Campers spend the rest of the day, including meals, with their teams.

This fun and exciting day ends with a dance in our craft hall.

Theme Meals
Throughout the session there are several meals where the camp dresses up to a theme.

Some past theme meals include Punks, Twins, Monks, Backwards, Crazy-Hair, and SuperHeroes.

Chapel

Chapel Hill is a very special place: quiet, serene, overlooking the west shore of Belwood Lake (where the sun sets) and nestled in among hundreds of pine trees. This is where we have our Sunday morning chapels and our whole-camp campfires.

Chapel is non-denominational but we draw material from Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Confucius. Talks tend to be centred around certain themes: bullying and individuality, eating disorders and self-esteem, heroes and heroines, peer pressure, self-actualization and introspection.

We've talked about Mahatma Gandhi and Lance Armstrong, Martin Luther King Jr. and Chief Seattle, Victor Frankl, Allen Iverson, Reno Bertoia and Abraham Maslow.

Music is intertwined with the chapel talks as well: from Harry Chapin to Cat Stevens, Gordon Lightfoot to the Beatles, classical to rap - anything that helps us communicate with young people.