FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:   Rusty Cheuvront or Channell Barbour  (502) 564-2611
                 Christa Bunnell  (502) 564-4270

KENTUCKY AND CANADIAN OFFICIALS BREAK GROUND FOR CHILDREN’S CAMP AT GREEN RIVER LAKE STATE PARK

CAMBELLSVILLE, KY, (May 30, 2000) -- Governor Paul Patton led a host of Kentucky and Canadian officials in breaking ground today for an $8 million camp for underprivileged children at Green River Lake State Park.

The non-profit charitable camp is the first to be built in the United States by the Canadian Tim Horton Children’s Foundation, which operates similar camps in Canada.

“The Horton foundation operates four outstanding camps in Canada,” Governor Patton said. “Their mission, to provide a camping experience to underprivileged children, is coupled with the goal of promoting understanding between cultures and countries.”

The Governor also said that he was “ proud Kentucky will represent the United States to the Canadian children who will visit here and that day campers from this region will have a new opportunity to learn about our neighbors to the north.”

Ron Joyce, Chairman of the Foundation Board, cited Governor Patton’s willingness to contribute nearly $1.5 million in infrastructure costs and the state park site as overriding factors in the decision to locate the camp in Kentucky.

“Dave Thomas first expressed his desire to see us open a camp in the United States, and through the vision and generosity of Governor Patton and his team, we are able to make this camp a reality,” Joyce said.

Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s restaurants, is a board member of the Horton foundation. He was scheduled to attend the groundbreaking but was unable to do so.

Joyce announced the name of the new camp will be Ken-tah-ten, an Iroquois Indian word meaning “Land of Tomorrow.” Kentucky’s name derived from this word, according to some historians.

Several hundred people attended the morning ceremony that also featured former Governor Wallace Wilkinson, who is a member of the Horton board, Tourism Development Secretary Ann Latta, Parks Commissioner Kenny Rapier and Col. Robert Slockbower of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Plans for establishing the camp, which is due to open in summer 2001, were begun about two years ago. The camp facility will accommodate 600 residential co-ed campers, aged 9 to 12, in six two-week sessions during the summer. An additional 1,500 to 2,000 day campers will be hosted during the summer months. The camp complex will include three sleeping cabins, a recreation center, dining hall, maintenance building plus two athletic fields.

Airplane travel is also a part of the Horton camping experience for each child. In Canada, campers are flown to a camp located in a province other than where they live, so they can learn about the cultures in other provinces in their country.

With the opening of the Ken-tah-ten camp, some Canadian children will travel to Kentucky, while Kentucky and other U.S. children will attend camp in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia or Alberta.

Children from Campbellsville and other areas of Kentucky will also be able to attend the Kentucky camp as day campers.

Digital photos of the event will be available on the governor’s Web page at http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/gov/pressofc.htm in the photo gallery.

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