Chilawee Trails is an overnight camp for girls, running one nine day session every August. Our aim is to enable girls to have fun together enjoying nature, friendship, sports and crafts in a relaxed atmosphere of cheerful cooperation, and to appreciate that having fun is a natural part of a virtuous and faithful life.
Where we came from
Chilawee Trails Camp began in 1994 with a one-week session of 28 campers and 8 staff. It has grown to one nine-day session with 56 campers and approximately 40 staff.
Chilawee Trails & OCA
We are members of the Ontario Camping Association and must adhere to over 400 separate standards dealing with all aspects of a camp’s operation. [https://www.ontariocampsassociation.ca/]
Chilawee Trails & Neeje
The Neeje Association for Women and Family sponsors the camp. The Neeje Association is a non-profit corporation founded in 1980. Its primary focus is the education and development of women of all ages.[neeje.ca]
Chilawee Trails & Opus Dei
Chilawee Trails has entrusted to Opus Dei the spiritual formation provided at camp.
Opus Dei is a Personal Prelature of the Catholic Church. The Latin name means “Work of God.” The aim of Opus Dei is to help ordinary people seek holiness in their study and daily work, and through their family and social commitments. This message is a central teaching of the Second Vatican Council. Opus Dei was founded in Madrid on October 2, 1928 by Saint Josemaria Escriva. Currently, over 85,000 people from every continent belong to the prelature.
To find out more about Opus Dei and about Saint Josemaria, please see the following links
[St Josemaria’s Writings: http://www.escrivaworks.org/]
[St Josemaria’s Life: https://opusdei.org/en/section/saint-josemaria/]
[Opus Dei in Canada: https://opusdei.org/en-ca/]
Where we are headed
The demand to accommodate more girls continues to grow. To retain the friendly, intimate nature of the camp with its low overall numbers and high camper/staff ratio we are looking at increasing the number of weeks the camp operates. This is not possible at our current rented location where, due to other demands, the site is only available to us for two weeks in August.
We continue to look for a suitable site to purchase or lease for several years. This would enable us to offer more weeks of camp experience for different age groups, full-time summer employment for our staff, incorporating a leadership training camp for 13-14 year old girls, year-round outdoor education program available to school groups and the possibility of accommodating a boys’ camp. For this purpose, a special savings account has been opened.
Donations may be made to the Neeje Association and sent to
Chilawee Trails, 453 Daly Ave.,
Ottawa, ON, K1N 6H6.
Please note that tax receipts will only be provided for donations made payable to the Neeje Association for Women and Family.