Week 2 is here!

It’s been a hot week, with the sun brightly shining. Cottagers have been able to enjoy water games to cool down.

The Ottawa Public Library summer staff came by once again and held a reading time and crafts.

The amazing race this week was a scavenger hunt of locations around the camp.

We are also in the process of restoring our old ‘”Waupoos” rabbit sign into a fun ringtoss game.

Don’t forget to join us for our weekly Open House each Saturday in July from 1 – 8 PM. Hope to see you soon!

Spring is sprung at Waupoos! The grounds are looking great. The buds on the trees are making their way out despite the below seasonal temperatures and the rain every second day. Several raised garden beds behind the farmhouse have been planted with peas, tomatoes, beans and carrots. We’ve started a “wanderers garden” out behind the barn for things like squash, pumpkins, cucumber and the like – basically anything that needs room to roam. The grass is loving all the rain – we’re so thankful for a long-time friend of the farm taking over the 6-8 hrs of weekly lawn mowing – what a gift his dedication is – as well as his East Coast charm and smile.

The flower beds are looking absolutely stunning – thanks almost entirely to our #1 volunteer gardener (you know who you are): she is another treasure to have around. And out beside Cottage 2, there’s plenty of evidence of the creativity and hard work of its new residents.

We have also adopted several new furry and feathery friends. Almost all the animals on the farm are new and struggling to get to know each other. The baby goats (AKA “kids”) got out the other day and the mother started trying to ram the emu as though he had something to do with it; while the new sheepdog, still, a pup, barked loudly desperate to try herding. Joe has been training Basho (the pup) by going from one farm animal to the next and saying, “Mine”, so he knows what to protect and what to chase away. He’s getting there, but we didn’t trust that he wouldn’t scare baby goats so we didn’t let him off the leash. After a few bounds into the fence instead of through the door, the cute little things bounced back to mommy through the open gate. And all was well again.

Not unlike the animals, the farm residents AKA “Farm Management Team or FMT are new and figuring out life together. From what we’ve heard from past residents, this has been one of the biggest struggles of living at Waupoos – the “living with others” part of the mission. Maybe we’re naive and in the honeymoon phase, but we’ve had little of that. We had our first official(ish) FMT meeting last week, complete with a good deal of laughing, carrying on, and a healthy side of teasing.

Chris and Rachel O’Connor (Cottage 2 new residents) are just finishing unpacking and Father Mark Slatter (Cottage 7 resident) has lived on site since March.  We (Aleisha and Joe Yawney) moved in late August last year. We’ll try and put some healthy community-living practices in place at the outset and bumble along with the necessary ups and downs as we live out the call to “Pray, Work, Play” together and pray God takes care of the rest.

Unlike the traditional model at Waupoos where you have long-term residents teach newcomers the ropes and pass along the culture and the practical knowledge necessary to run the place, Aleisha and Joe pretty much rode by the seat of our pants these past 8 months. There’s been highs and lows, but on the whole, we love it here! It’s telling that Joe is finally feeling inclined to write a blog post – with a full contingent of farm residents, at last, the normal craziness around here seems a lot more manageable.

One subset of our community that is also coming into a new springtime is the Board of Directors. If you are a passionate professional with a heart for the poor, The Waupoos Foundation Board of Directors may be a great fit for you. Between the capital improvements thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation grant over the past year, the tremendous community support and increase in volunteers, the new farm residents and potential residents, Waupoos Family Farm is coming into full bloom. It’s a choice time to get on board with a tremendous mission. “A Christ-centered community dedicated to offering low-income families vacation” – can you think of a more wonderful idea to spend yourself for?

We feel blessed to be part of it. We’d love you to join us. So if you or someone you know has professional experience in

1. fundraising,
2. policy or grant writing,
3. working with contractors,
4. has legal expertise,
5. is proficient in accounting, etc.

We would love for you to consider joining our board. Now is the ideal time to reach out with the Annual General Meeting less than a week away where the board welcomes new members. The commitment is a minimum of 2 hrs/month for the meeting (you don’t have to be physically present – you can call in) with whatever more time/talent you can muster to help on (a) committee/s between meetings.

Please write to contact@waupoos.com for more information – and use your gifts to help the Waupoos community flourish.

The Waupoos Foundation is thrilled to announce that Waupoos Family Farm has been approved for a Capital Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF)!

Waupoos Board member Patrick Brown, Emcee for the Oct. 20th Trillium Recognition event

Waupoos has received funding for repairs and renovations to our cottages, main lodge, and farmhouse.

With this support, we’ll be able to improve our core infrastructure to better serve families in need and to help OTF support the positive development of children and youth.

This exciting work is already underway and is scheduled to be wrapped up by the end of this year.

Click here to read the media release.

Waupoos is incredibly grateful to OTF for its generosity. We look forward to sharing the benefits of this project with our visiting families and the extended Waupoos community for years to come.

A Trillium celebration was held on Saturday, October 20th during our Fall Cleanup Day. We welcomed local politicians, MPP Goldie Ghamari, MP Pierre Poilievre, Osgoode Ward Councillor George Darouze and Krista Inrig,  from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

L-R Matias Garcia, MPP Goldie Ghamari, Krista Inrig OTF, George Darouze, Osgoode Ward Councillor

MP Pierre Poilievre addresses the gathering

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. OTF awarded more than $120 million to some 700 projects last year to build healthy and vibrant communities in Ontario.

I can hardly believe that our last week at Waupoos is coming to a close. Time flies when you are having fun, and the last eight weeks have done just that!

For our last week of summer vacations, we had an amazing new host family, who brought loads of creativity and energy to the farm. Every morning the day was started off with Chapel Time, in which we learned about all of the different covenants between God and His children. From day one of creation to the present day, it is pretty clear that our God loves us very very much!

From Madlibs and pizza making, to craft and pool time, there was no shortage of fun activities for the kids to participate in this week. On Thursday, we held our last Amazing Race of the summer, which had all of the kids engaged.

We are all a little sad that the summer has ended, and we will all be going our separate ways. There is no denying how blessed we have been to have had such an incredible summer, to have been part of such an amazing initiative, and to have met such inspirational people. Only time will tell what adventures await us all in the year to come!

We hope to see you for our final Open House this Saturday at 1 pm for a wagon ride, potluck dinner, and Mass.

Our second last week at Waupoos farm was a joy to be a part of. We had lovely hosts who did an amazing job engaging all of the cottagers and making sure that everyone was having fun. Through a series of painting workshops, the children were able to paint beautiful icons of the angel Raphael, who is found in both the Christian and Islam tradition. This week, we also tried out a new pool game for the first time: Water Bingo! The kids loved it, and with their bouncy-ball prizes they were able to continue the fun into the afternoon.

Overall, week seven was a beautiful week full of fun, laughter, and new friends! As always, we invite you to join in the fun at our Open House’s on Saturdays at 1 pm!

Week six has stood out from other weeks in a very heart-warming way. Since the very first day of the vacation, the cottagers have formed strong friendships with each other.

When we look outside, we see kids from all of the different cottages playing together. The older ones have taken some of the younger ones under their wing, and nobody ever seems to be left out of the fun. Of course, it is not just the children that are bonding but the parents as well, with families even going so far as to invite other cottages over for dinner at night!

It hardly feels like we have to organize activities because everyone is genuinely just enjoying being in each other’s presence.

Our amazing hosts have definitely added to the blessings of this week, with fun crafts and games, as well as calming and inspiring Chapel Time discussions that touched the hearts of everyone present.

Overall, this week has so beautifully showcased the importance of community and how little gestures of friendliness and hospitality can go a long way.

If you would like to be a part of this unique week at Waupoos, please join us for our Open House, Saturday, August 11th at 1 pm.

Week 5 at Waupoos was a blast!

Our amazing host family started every morning off with a fun and interactive Chapel Time, followed by yummy snacks. Swimming lessons were enjoyed by everyone, even some of the youngest residents and cottagers. One of our cottagers was proud to tell me that she learned to swim in the deep end without a life-jacket

Our afternoons were filled with creative games and crafts that kept everyone busy. On Thursday, all of the kids went for a nature walk to collect materials to make their very own “Fairy Gardens”. It was a great chance for them to explore Waupoos’ property a little more. Then, of course, there were the old favourites, like Little Ray’s Nature Center, and storytime, as well as lots of pool time! It was a week to remember, and we hope our final three weeks will be just as special!for the first time (shout-out to Emily, our awesome lifeguard)!

Please join us for our weekly Open Houses, on Saturdays at 1 pm!

We hope to see you soon!

We can hardly believe that the summer season is halfway over! For the first time all summer, we had a week full of rain (but that didn’t stop anyone from having fun!).

Our wonderful host decided that this week would be themed “Christmas in July”! With Christmas themed chapel, Christmas cookies at snack, and Christmas crafts and activities throughout the day, Waupoos was filled with holiday cheer. On Wednesday, we held a Christmas party in the lodge, featuring cupcake decorating, Christmas carolling, many Christmas crafts, and even a creative new way of reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas”.

Thursday has finally brought us some sunshine (which we prayed most ardently for in chapel), so we will be taking full advantage by organizing some outdoor games for the kids!

As always, we hope to see you this Saturday at 1 pm, for our weekly Open House, where you can expect a wagon ride, Mass, a potluck and a whole lot of good cheer!