Ministry to the Ukrainian Community

It began with a simple idea to bless a displaced community. It is now 4 years later and Redberry continues to be blessed by this blossoming relationship with the new to Canada Ukrainian community.

During the summer of 2022 the Redberry Board Directors saw an opportunity to bless the Ukrainian community by offering a Ukrainian Family Camp, free of charge, to newcomers from this community. The idea was to create a space for them to grieve together and support each other as needed, but also to give them a place to have some fun, meet others in a similar situation and just rest. The week went great, and this community continues to enjoy Ukrainian Family Camp every Fall.

Since then, we have continued to develop our relationship with this community. With a lower camper enrollment over the past couple of years and a camper sponsorship fund set up by a generous donor, we decided to open the door to the Ukrainian newcomer community and offer sponsorship to these families that otherwise wouldn’t be able to send their children to camp. We have had an incredible response that has seen over 40 Ukrainian campers in 2023, 80 in 2024, and another 80 already signed up for 2025!

Our relationship with this community continues to grow as families build friendships with us and each other and campers are becoming more engaged in the camp. One example of this is a camper who joined us in 2023 and returned in 2024 for teen camp.  She loved her time at Redberry so much that she decided to sign up for our Foundations leader training program that same summer. This year, having completed Foundations, she is joining us as Cabin Leader! As Teen camp ended, she expressed that she has always loved camp; she loved it in the Ukraine and dreamed about one day being a leader at camp and now she is doing just that, here in Canada, all thanks to the generosity of those who love and support the camp!  

It has been such a great privilege to develop this relationship with our new to Canada friends. We are blessed by their presence at the camp and are blessed by all those who have sacrificed to make this happen.

We have, once again, opened our sponsorship program to this community for 2025 and anticipate giving away another $25,000 in sponsorships. Thanks to the generosity of others we are able to give these families the opportunity to enjoy camp and learn about and experience the love of Jesus. We are encouraged by the gifts we have already received including a generous gift from the SKMB conference. If you would also like to contribute this camper sponsorship fund, you can do so donating on our website or by e-transfer at: accounting@redberrybiblecamp.com and designating the donation to “Camper Sponsorships”.