Following a dream

Time Contributor

 

Kiwanis has been a big part of Cory Johnson’s life for over 20 years, and recently he became even more immersed in it. During a road trip this past summer, Johnson’s wife Sandi mentioned she would love to live at Kamp Kiwanis, located north of Bragg Creek. After talking it over as a family, and realizing everyone was on board the Johnson family decided if the directorship ever came up he would apply for it.

That was on July 23. The family arrived home on Aug. 2. Johnson called the camp and found out the position, by coincidence, was available. 

“I got hired on Aug. 18 and we had 13 days to pack up our whole house and move everything to Kamp Kiwanis. We’re still unpacking. Its all been within in a month and half from talking about it to being here and having staff,” said Johnson. 

On Sept. 1, the family of four, soon to be five, moved into the director’s home at the camp. 

“Its been a really big change going from living in Strathmore and Sandi working at the hospital and having everything four minutes away to being out here and being in nature and it being so calm. No commercialized stuff, no Wal-Mart nearby,” said Johnson. 

“It has been good for the whole family, and everything is centered around the outdoor community that we have here. We barely watch TV, go on the Internet or any of that because we have everything here.”

Johnson began with Kamp Kiwanis in 1992 as a volunteer. He worked his way up through the ranks at the Kamp. After camp he joined the Kiwanis club of Calgary. When he became governor it made Johnson realize that his talents lie in serving and giving back to others. 

“Being the director (has) given me the ability to give back and serve children and the staff to give them the experience that they deserve,” said Johnson. 

“I’ve been working more or less 12 to 14 hour days trying to get the program up and running and just preparing staff and getting ready for the spring.”

The main focus of Kamp Kiwanis is being a summer camp for underprivileged children. The Kamp fundraises they have they have outdoor school and different programs to raise money to pay for summer camp. Approximately 70 to 80 kids are sent to camp each session and there are five sessions.