COVID-19 may have put the kibosh on Burn Camp this summer, but that doesn’t mean the campers were forgotten by Burnaby firefighters.
For the first time in its 27-year history, the weeklong Squamish-area summer camp for burn survivors between the ages of six and 18 was cancelled because of the pandemic.
To keep up support for the camp, however, organizers hosted a virtual Burn Camp Kick Off last Thursday, during which supporters pledged funds to the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, which puts on the camp.
The Burnaby Firefighters Charitable Society pledged $50,000, one of the single largest, non-capital-campaign donations in the Burn Fund’s history, according to a news release.
The donation was made in honour of the late Marilyn and Alan Codyre, who made a generous bequest to the society after Alan’s death in October 2018.
“They left money in our charitable fund for the firefighters to disburse,” Burnaby Fire Fighters Local 323 President Jeff Clark told the NOW.
To date, Burnaby firefighters have donated $317,100 to the Burn Fund, according to the release.
All told, 29 firefighter unions around the province and eight burn survivors raised $200,068 this year.
One of the burn survivors who pitched in was Cadence Chan, an 11-year-old who raised $1,000 at a Valentine’s Day Dinner party.
She announced her donation in a video filmed at Fire Hall 1 in Burnaby.
To date, Cadence and her family have raised more than $2,200 for the Burn Fund, according to the release.
Burn Camp is free for campers.
Donors and sponsors cover the kids’ travel and accommodation costs, as well as the cost of coordinating and operating the camp, which all adds up to about $2,900 per camper.
Each year, 70 to 80 kids attend, according to the Burn Fund’s website.
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This story has been changed. The original stated the Burnaby firefighters $50,000 donation was the largest non-capital-campaign donation in the Burn Fund's history. The Burn Fund has since corrected their original statement to say the donation was among the biggest. The original story also said more than 1,000 children attend the Burn Camp each year. In fact, a total of more than 1,000 children have attended the camp since 1994.
