Variety Stories: Ken
Ken loves to swim. But for him, swimming hasn’t just been an activity. It’s helped shape his life.
Ken was adopted at 18 months of age through the Children’s Aid Society, and experienced trauma in the first grade due to a chaotic classroom experience. Fortunately, Ken spent time with a psychotherapist and naturopathic doctor, which helped him heal. The other large part of his healing and growth was his passion to swim.
Ken has been swimming at Variety Village since he was just 18 months old, and in the fourth grade he started homeschooling, which allowed more time for his favourite passion. This is when the therapeutic benefit of swimming began to shine. When Ken enters the water, the impact is instant — becoming lighter, happier, and more relaxed. More time in the pool has helped Ken develop his self-esteem and a positive self-image even further.
Being a part of Variety Village’s Flames’ swim team has helped Ken in feeling accepted and validated on his journey with mental health. In the water he feels comfortable no matter what, even if he is the only kid in the pool.
The Flames Swim program is an integrated competitive swim team that provides opportunities for training and competition to swimmers at all levels, ages, stages, and abilities. The team has a long history of developing swimmers who reach provincial, national and international levels. Our swimmers focus on developing fundamental skills in preparation for competition.
The Flames Swim team offers various training and program options. To learn more, please contact the head coach. Team Manager: Anna Atell, aatell@varietyontario.ca
Last year’s camps were a tremendous success. For a few hours each day, children were able to leave their isolation and come to a safe environment where they could play with others and reimagine what life was like before COVID descended upon us.
This year, camps are back in full force. The staff have been vaccinated, and we will conduct weekly rapid testing so the kids will have a chance to play again. After having been out of school for months, kids and families are looking forward to camps as much, or even more, than last year.
Our camps are so successful that this year we started fielding calls from families about other locations where we operate. It led to a discussion with the team and the board about our need to expand camps to other locations in Ontario, as we have done with VOLT Hockey and Children in Motion.
Variety Village camps are as successful as they are for a few reasons beyond the wonderful facility. The culture of inclusion that has been established at Variety Village is extraordinary. Our camps are inclusive because youth of all abilities can participate and our camp staff understand how to ensure everyone gets a chance to play. Our camps break down barriers for all kids: children with a disability have a chance to feel included and children without a disability understand inclusion in a meaningful way.
The culture of inclusion is the key to the organization and the charity. Our mission over the last several years has been to build out this culture to other organizations through our programs. We have recognized that expanding our camp program will be another way that we can continue to spread awareness, breakdown barriers and make sure youth learn the critical skills of participation and inclusion.
Over the next several months we are going to look for a community partner to assist us in offering our camps at other locations. We are excited about the potential and the continual reminder about the importance of Variety Village and Variety, the Children’s Charity to the community we serve.