Where Are They Now – Jeff Yolleck 

“Where Are They Now” is an ongoing series where we welcome submissions from former campers and staff.    Check out the information and link under the “About” tab on the website to share your own post-camp journey! 

What is your name, and what were any of your camp nicknames? 

Jeff Yolleck.

Which years did you attend camp (as a staff or camper)? 

73,74,75,76….82, and 83. And A-session in 85. 

I’m the one on the ground, in the midst of being kidnapped by some local outlaws

What are you passionate about right now? 

Vegetable gardening. It makes me feel like I’m far older than I think I am, but I really enjoy it. My passion goes beyond putting seeds in the ground. I am passionate about composting and using only natural ingredients to make my garden grow. My garden serves my family and my two neighbours. Fresh healthy food shouldn’t be expensive. And it’s easy. I realized that my ease and ability to grow things should be shared. So, for the last five years I have started between 75 and 125 cherry tomato plants and given them out to people with simple instructions on how to easily grow their own bounty of super sweet tomatoes. I believe fresh food shouldn’t be a privilege, and I’ve committed myself to make that true. I help out at an Out-Of-The-Cold program. I’ve been doing that for about ten years. I really find that it gives me purpose. 

How did your experience at Huronda shape your personal and/or professional development? 

In the late 1990s I did a lot of volunteer work for camp in the off-season. Occasionally I was asked to speak to a group of Lions or a similar group, and I would often start with, “Please don’t misunderstand – I have fantastic parents. I can’t imagine better ones. But… the biggest influence on my life was CAMP.”

I think that my passion to develop a strong community probably comes from my time at camp. For three of my four years as a camper, I came for both A & B sessions. When I was fifteen, I was registered to come for period A, B, C AND D!. However, at the end of the school year, I failed three courses, and went to summer school instead.

Goofing around that year cost me a lot. Back then, you could go to as many camp sessions as you wanted. Non-diabetic siblings could go too. At the beginning of A-session, my mother drove me down to Union Station, where the camp bus departed, so I could see if there were any campers or staff that I knew.

Regarding how Huronda generated in me a drive to create community, I think about how, with only eighty campers in a session, everyone knew everyone else. If you heard about someone falling off a horse and going to town for an X-ray, “the Harfoot who wears the brown jacket every morning to breakfast” was enough to know who it was. Eighty is a big number, but when you are all in a place together sharing meals, lining up for snack together, seeing each other in skits, singing at the front of the dining hall, counting off during “Buddies!” or having each other on the same “Italy” team during a camp Olympics, you form a bond. And that’s what made people cry when it was time to get on the bus. 

Are there any specific skills or lessons you learned at camp that you still use today? 

My family and I have gone on interior camping trips since the year I got married thirty-four years ago. And ALL of my camping skills were learned at camp. My family adored the trips we did. They were so…campy. I run an annual Family Day for my extended family and I do it just like camp programs. There are teams, and a theme (eg. Canada vs USA, Dogs vs Cats, Country vs Rock’n’Roll, etc) and a bevy of in-theme games. By that, I mean games similar to how camp had Capture-the-Flag – but under the auspices of Hatfields vs McCoys. After seven years of Family Days in that style, I asked my nieces, nephews, and in-laws if they were getting a little tired of it. “Should I make it every second year?” I got a resounding, “NO! We love it! We wait all year for it. We start talking about next year’s Family Day on the way home from the last one!” (I got THAT skill from camp!) Plus, I can ride a horse, start a campfire, stern a canoe, start gimp, and manage my diabetes when things are out of my control…just like we learned to do on canoe trips. 

Have you remained connected with other Huronda alumni? 

Yes. I am super fortunate to still have contact with superstars from my staffing years. (They were all superstars in some way). Everyone had a super power. Listening, singing, guitar-playing, humour, compassion, sensitivity. The list is endless. I saw campers benefit from them all. I was lucky to work with those folks. I like them too much, to ever let them go completely. 

Do you have any fond memories or standout moments from our time at Huronda that you’d like to share? 

I remember the evening there was a naturalization program on the ridge and two campers (Fallohides) got lost. This was pre-cell phones, and the two trip hut staff walked separately into the forest with just whistles, flashlights, and compasses, so they could go deep into the woods to try to find them. If I recall correctly, the director had already liaised with the police. In about fifteen minutes, one of the Trip Hut staff found them.

When I was a camper at 13 and 14, I used to look forward to seeing my best camp buddy (Steve Manzo) back at camp each year. He lived in Sault Ste Marie. When I was in my mid twenty’s, I had a one-day work-related trip into the Sault. While I was in the airport waiting for my flight home, I decided to see if I could find Steve Manzo. This was pre-cell phones and pre-internet. I went to a pay phone and started calling the Manzos listed in the white pages. On my first call, I got hold of Steve’s mother. She told me that he wasn’t home – he was at work – AT THE AIRPORT! I asked at the desk for him and we reconnected then and there. It had been a decade since I saw him. It’s amazing how those camp connections and great memories never go away. 

Me during camp show, playing the start of “Dueling Banjos” behind my head. (That skill never went beyond this Camp Show stage).

How has your perspective on outdoor activities and nature conservation evolved since attending Huronda?      

Camp Huronda planted the seed for a passionate perspective on nature conservation and outdoor activities. Well…planted the seed, watered it, and provided sunlight. I won’t begin to list activities because that would be boring. I am actively involved in supporting the conservation of our natural environments. More than that, in the last decade, my understanding and passion for the ways of our Indigenous people has become more important. Huronda had a special day, near the end of each camp session, where we paid tribute to indigenous skills, tales, conservation and more. Decades later, that special day provided critical learning to help my current appreciation and compassion for the Indigenous people from this land. A couple of years ago, I took an online university course that took my knowledge and respect to a much higher level. (Look up University of Alberta, Indigenous Canada. The course is online and free.) 

Have you returned to camp as a volunteer or in any other capacity since your time as a camper/staff? Please elaborate. 

For years, after my time as a counsellor, I would meet the camp bus and drop off things that I’d picked up during the year. Thinks like Craft Shop articles that wouldn’t have been in the Craft Shop budget, or unique things for the Costume Cupboard. Until about fifteen years ago, the Huronda off-season was run by a committee of volunteers. There was a mix of two doctors, a lawyer, a dietitian, a nurse, some ex-Huronda staff, camper parents, and of course the camp director. This group handled everything from camper applications, to the camp’s entire annual budget. It was during the first thirty years of Huronda’s existence, and the Canadian Diabetes Association was happy to have a skilled and passionate team guide the off-season operations. I was fortunate to serve on that team for almost ten years.

For the Camp Huronda 50th, I partnered with Caroline Gee to set up the Huronda Time Machine. It was the Rec Hall full of pictures, slides, camp music, and other personal memorabilia that people brought in and shared.

It’s weird, but I always feel like an outsider at events like the 50th. Accordingly, at the 50th, I spent a lot of time in the Rec Hall fine-tuning our presentation of memorabilia. You see, in my eyes, everyone else was super for camp. They contributed so much. I’ve forever looked up to all the musicians, the creative people, the directors, all the people the directors could turn to, the people that supported camp with their skills and presence for years, and the people that took on multiple roles. In a nutshell, I feel like Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar. I don’t feel worthy. I know it’s just kinda my stupid “in my head” issue, because I just wrote many ways I’ve spent time trying to help camp be an even better place for campers. Everyone has got their issue. I guess that one insecurity is mine. 

Are there any projects or initiatives you’re currently involved in that you’d like to highlight? 

Gee. haven’t I yammered on enough about myself? 

How do you incorporate the values and lessons learned at Huronda into your daily life? 

I try to remember that “people come first”. 

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your journey post-Huronda? 

I always knew that Camp Huronda affected me in such an incredibly wonderful way that no one got as much out of camp as I did. Then I saw at the 50th where people wrote down what camp did for them. They could have been my words. Other people were impacted by camp in the same, deep, deep way that I was. I didn’t think it was even possible. That’s why if I can get just ONE kid into camp that wouldn’t have gone otherwise, then I have really accomplished something big.

Finally, I feel like I never really answered the question, “Where is He Now”?  So, here’s the answer: I live in Toronto. I have been married to Phyllis for thirty-four years – and counting.  We have a son who is twenty-nine, and living in Guelph with his partner. We have a five-year-old dog named Rae. We have a nineteen-year-old corn snake named Nitemare that our son got when he was ten. I worked for IBM Canada for thirty years and retired during the covid-lockdown era. For kicks, I work at a golf course three days a week. It’s a wonderful private course with great equipment, and a manager that puts his people’s well-being first. Last year, I was bleeding internally which turned out to be a cancer on my upper intestine. Surgery fixed that.  I’m 100% again, including the useless pancreas.

I’m the one wearing the fishing vest…