On Monday, March 9th, 2020, the Sussex Rotary Club hosted guest speakers Duane Bleakney (Camp Director) and Rosy Berti (Assistant Director) of local Snider Mountain Ranch. The Ranch is a Canadian registered charity dedicated to providing fantastic experiences for youth in a loving, supportive and inspiring ranch-themed environment.
Meeting Chair Lisa Brown introduced our speakers.
Duane Bleakney is from the Sussex area, and he and his wife Katie have four children ranging from 9 months to 12 years of age. Duane spent his childhood living at the Ranch and his teenage years working there. His background in construction comes in handy, and he and Katie are embarking on their sixth summer as the directors of Snider Mountain Ranch.
Rosy Berti, originally from Ottawa, is the Camp Assistant Director. She has worked for the Ranch for two and a half years since starting as seasonal summer staff. After graduating from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Child Studies (with minors in French and American Sign Language), Rosy came to work for Snider Mountain Ranch full time...
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Duane and Rosy offered a few staggering statistics:
In an area 2 km deep by 1 km wide, Snider Mountain Ranch offers a large dining room, 12 hotel-style rooms, 10 bunkhouses, plus an overnight campsite with 12 bunk beds that children ride the horses to and from. Activities include a horsemanship program and riding lessons, trail riding, go-karts and driver safety training, swimming, rock wall climbing, archery, BMX biking, zip and slacklines, ball hockey, basketball, and a waterfront for canoeing. Winter activities offer the same horsemanship program, sledding, snowshoeing, skating and hockey and sleigh rides. The Ranch offers rental packages for groups of any size. The Ranch regularly hosts such organizations as Camp Kerry, CNIB, Girl Guides, Coding Camp-Brilliant Labs and Canadian Parents for French, as well as youth groups, international students and business conferences, to name a few. | ||
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Snider Mountain Ranch wants to give potentially at-risk youth the opportunity and confidence to see their future possibilities in a whole new way. Rosy shared a quote she overheard from one of the New Horizons campers: "I learned how to be nice and kind to other people; I learned how to skate. I learned how to get back up and try again." | ||
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