{"id":817109,"date":"2026-07-21T20:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817109\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T20:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:50:08","slug":"annual-burn-camp-for-b-c-kids-kicks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817109\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual burn camp for B.C. kids kicks off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>              Annual burn camp for B.C. kids kicks off<\/p>\n<p class=\"pubStamp\">Published 12:35 pm Tuesday, July 21, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Before 59 young burn survivors from across B.C. and the Yukon began a week-long summer camp in Squamish, they were treated to a kick-off celebration hosted by <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/iaff4550.ca\/iaff4550ca\/home\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Township of Langley Firefighters IAFF Local 4550<\/a> at McLeod Athletic Park in Langley on Sunday, July 19.<\/p>\n<p>Todd Schierling, president of the BC Professional Fire Fighters\u2019 Burn Fund which organizes the camps, spoke at the event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s all about showing up for these kids,\u201d Schierling told the Langley Advance Times. \u201cIt is very meaningful for them, and we\u2019re very proud to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the kick-off, campers, families, volunteers, firefighters, and community partners as well as their counselors (who include firefighters, doctors, and medical therapists) were welcomed with opening ceremonies, food and games.<\/p>\n<p>Ten former campers were also present, serving as junior counsellors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are young adults who came to us as campers, who faced real challenges and found strength here, and who now return to lift up the kids coming behind them,\u201d Schierling said.<\/p>\n<p>It was the first time Local 4550 had hosted the opening event, and union president Jordan Sparrow called it an honour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a big one, where we can send young burn survivors away for a week,\u201d Sparrow commented.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to make sure that our event was one that the kids would remember, and so we had a vision of putting it together at McLeod Athletic Park,\u201d Sparrow explained. \u201cWe didn\u2019t consider ourselves that big of an organization in order to be able to secure the entire property. But when we reached out to the mayor\u2019s office, the mayor basically said, \u2018what do you need? you got it.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sparrow praised Mayor Eric Woodward, Township staff and supportive community groups that included  Save-On-Foods for making the event a success.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVancouver Giants, the Vancouver Bandits, and the Vancouver Football Club all either donated their people or donated items. So it really was a community coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was the 33rd week-long Burn Camp for kids aged 8 to 18, which runs until July 24 at the Cheakamus Centre in Squamish.<\/p>\n<p>Organized by the <a href=\"https:\/\/burnfund.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BC Professional Fire Fighters\u2019 Burn Fund<\/a>, the week-long camp is entirely free for burn survivors and features outdoor activities like swimming, hiking, and a polar bear dip. Campers are supported by a dedicated team of off-duty firefighters, doctors, nurses, and therapists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really shows them that, hey, I can get through this. I can age and, and be proud of the scars,\u201d Sparrow commented.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of the counselors are firefighters that were, as kids ,burned and treated by fellow firefighters in some instances. So it\u2019s kind of a full circle experience for these kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local 4550 presented the Burn Fund with a donation of $14,550 for camp participants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Annual burn camp for B.C. kids kicks off Published 12:35 pm Tuesday, July 21, 2026 Before 59 young&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[903,49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-817109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}