Campers enjoying making food at Bridgadoon Village. Photo: Brigadoon Village.
Brigadoon Village, nestled in Annapolis Royal is a special place, offering the only specialized overnight pediatric camp East of Montreal, and HelloFresh, the meal delivery company has recognized their work by awarding them a grant of $10,00 to enhance their cooking facilities.
The charity is one of this year’s recipients of the Fresh Food Explorers Program, which offers funding and support to charities across Canada helping kids experience, experiment with, and learn to love fresh food.
Brigadoon Village delivers year-round camp programming to children, youth, and families living with health conditions or other life challenges in Atlantic Canada. It is the largest camp of its kind in Canada and accommodates over 3,500 campers a year.
Brigadoon Village Director of Operations, Jenn Ross says, “Most families who have a sick child cannot afford camp so we ask parents to contribute only what they can. This donation from HelloFresh will ensure that, regardless of a parent’s financial situation, all campers will receive access to food education and the opportunity to experiment with fresh ingredients to properly fuel their bodies.”
Callie Gallant Brigadoon Director of Marketing & Communications says a large portion of the money went towards the construction of a new outdoor kitchen which will allow the campers to take part in making healthy meals, “The partnership makes alot of sense as the kids always love to get involved and this will give us the chance to teach them about healthy foods and how to cook them,”.
“Our nutritional and cooking education programs have always been a part of the camp experience we offer. However, now that our new outdoor kitchen area is open, we plan to expand this programming element and build on curriculum and delivery,” says Ross.
It comes at an ideal time as well with Brigadoon recently scaling up their operations significantly.
“While we shuttered over the pandemic we used that as an opportunity to expand our facilities,” said Gallant. “Thanks to generous support from our donors and from the government we were able to raise $12.5 million and expand from eight buildings to twenty so we can fit lots more kids in our programs,”.
Throughout the year Brigadoon Villages puts on camps for specific cohorts of youths that are suffering from similar conditions. The next camp set to begin on July 17 is called Camp JoinTogether and it will welcome children suffering from juvenile arthritis.
“We are thrilled to be working with Brigadoon Village and provide support through The Fresh Food Explorers Program, which empowers kids across Canada to try and love fresh ingredients,” says HelloFresh Director of Culinary, Corby-Sue Neumann. “We know that learning about food is as important as learning to read or write, but that this can be overlooked. We want to change that.”
Brigadoon Village strives to encourage healthy and happy relationships with food for campers. Meals are prepared by an Executive Chef and her team that are not only delicious but also tailored to the nutritional needs of campers and their health conditions.
