Image Credit: People In Motion

By Dylana Milobar

BREAK-IN

People In Motion working to replace stolen summer camp equipment

Apr 26, 2019 | 8:50 AM

CEDAR CREEK, B.C. — Following a break-in, a Shuswap area summer camp is looking to replace thousands of dollars in stolen equipment.

People In Motion’s Board Vice President Joel Desaulniers says the not-for-profit runs Cedar Creek Camp out at White Lake each year.

The endeavor allows people with diverse abilities to partake in a real summer camp experience.

“Early this year, the camp committee including myself, came out to do an early season check on things. And unfortunately the first thing we noticed was the gate had been broken into along with our storage sea-can.”

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A number of equipment pieces used for cleaning up and repairing the site were stolen, which Executive Director Debora Delyzer says adds up to around $3,000 to $3,500.

“This is one of our revenue generators for our organization. And all the money that we make from it in turn goes right back into the Cedar Creek Camp,” she explains. “We already have May, June, and July already booked for our campers for the area.”

Delyzer says more than 400 people use the camp on an annual basis and displacing those members is significant.

The organization was hoping to have the camp open in time for the May long weekend, however with this delay, she says People In Motion is not sure the space will be ready to host in time.

“We can’t have campers out there if it is not accessible. Because that’s exactly how we promote this camp.”

Given that the not-for-profit is largely volunteer-run, Desaulniers says the organization will need to raise some money to replace the stolen equipment and get the 10-acre camp up and running.

“There’s certainly deck boards that need replacing, and pieces of the roof that need to be fixed, and without this equipment this is going to be a challenge.”

Besides operational setbacks, Desaulniers says he was quite disappointed to find that some people were desperate enough to steal from them.

“They obviously had scoped out the camp because there (were) particular tools that they needed to break in to our sea-can,” he says. “It’s kind of disheartening that there are individuals who would go so far as to take advantage of a not-for-profit that really does a lot of good for a lot of good people in our community.”

To volunteer, donate, or find out how you can help, People In Motion can be reached at (250) 376-7878, and their website can be accessed here.