Manitou Cares Senior Unit Soap Box Race

Yesterday was a very exciting day for the seniors at Manitou.  The entire unit was surprised this morning when word broke of a very special afternoon they were in store for, they were told to ‘book off’ the entire afternoon but were not given much more detail than that.  When the seniors arrived at the field there were eight different tents with wooden crates inside of them and on top of each crate lay a screwdriver.

Kailee (our director of all Manitou-Cares events (amongst many other things!) alongside Joel from Spirit Entertainment introduced himself to the seniors and let them know that they would be working in cabin groups to build, decorate and race classic ‘soap-box’ ‘go-karts’. The coolest part was that each kart had been assigned a charity or cause that Camp Manitou supports throughout the year.  Each cabin was given a ‘bio’ about their charity or cause which included Manitoucamp Foundation, Red Door Family Shelter, Soup Sisters, North York Harvest Food Bank, Holland Bloorview Kid’s Rehabilitation Hospital, Variety Village, Camp Oochigeas, and ‘Kids in Camp‘.

The seniors were given no instructions on how to build the soap box cars, they were assigned various roles in their cabin and assembled the soap-box cars together as a team.  The signs made to decorate the cars corresponding with the various cars were awesome.  The enthusiasm running through camp-house field was contagious and many younger campers came out to watch.  With a model that was constructed prior to the arrival of the seniors on the field, the seniors saw how to construct the soap box cars and assembled all 170 parts into eight different ‘soap-boxes’.

We are so proud of our senior unit!  They worked incredibly well within their cabin groups to complete a difficult challenge.  Their hard work paid off as they enjoyed racing their cars against the other cabins’.  In the end, the B-15 Boys who represented the ‘Soup-Sisters’ charity (who they made soup for just last week that went to the Parry Sound women’s shelter) were victorious and Manitoucamp foundation made a donation in their honor!  Well done all senior campers and staff!