Get summer camp ready!
The Support Our Troops national summer camp program for eligible youth in Canadian Armed Forces families opens March 20, in its 10th year funding youth participation in an accredited residential camp or day camp experience.
Families with eligible dependents may be reimbursed up to $700 for an accredited residential or day camp facility. CAF families with children having special needs may be reimbursed up to $1,100. Camp programs managed and delivered by base/ wing PSP staff qualify. Maximum grant amounts per child, per summer, will be maintained, without week restrictions.
Eligible youth participants include dependents of deceased CAF members, ill or injured CAF members being supported through the CAF Transition Unit or CAF Transition Centre, or of CAF members currently deployed or on a prolonged training (course) or an attached posting away from their families; special needs children of serving CAF members; and children of serving CAF members with special needs siblings (one sibling per special needs child).
There may be unique circumstances that would warrant a serving military family benefitting from a summer camp experience. Unit commanding officers or deputy commanding officers may nominate such families through an email forwarded to camps@cfmws.com for consideration. As a minimum, a nomination should include details of the family along with the rationale for their inclusion within this program.
The national summer camps program depends on charitable donations to Support Our Troops. Applications will remain open until all available funding has been exhausted. Priority will go to first-time applicants; grants for returning campers will be awarded on a first come, first serve basis, contingent upon funding.
Online registration for the 2023 program is available at supportourtroops.ca/Get-Support/National-Summer-Camps-Program. An approval notice will be issued to the applicant within two weeks of successful submission. Grants will be provided to applicants upon receipt of final paid camp invoices, and after the child has attended camp. Support Our Troops is not responsible for reimbursement of any expenses associated with camp cancellations or registration changes. All families are encouraged to verify any cancellation policies, and/ or related charges, with their camp of choice.
Support Our Troops is the official charitable cause of the Canadian Armed Forces community, supported by donations from individual Canadians, proceeds from third-party events and contributions from external charitable foundations.
