WELCOME TO KINTAIL!

Rev. Theresa McDonald-Lee and Johnathon Lee began their work as the Co-Executive Directors of Camp Kintail in November 2007. Theresa is a long time Kintail camper, LIT, and staff member. She attended the first Kintail Family Camp as a three year old and has spent part of every summer at camp since that first experience. Theresa filled several roles on the camp staff including Counsellor, Lifeguard, On-site Out-tripper, Leader in Training Resource Counsellor, and Assistant Director. She then spent three years as the Director of Presbyterian Camp Douglas in British Columbia. Theresa has an Honours Bachelor of Arts from Trent University with a joint major of Environmental Resource Studies and Women’s Studies. She has a Masters of Divinity degree from the Vancouver School of Theology. From 2002 to 2007, Theresa served as the minister of Knox Presbyterian Church, Monkton and Knox Presbyterian Church, Cranbrook. Johnathon is a University of Guelph Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Business Administration graduate. He worked at the Royal Bank for seven years. As a child, Johnathon attended Camp Bimini, and then spent a summer working at Camp Kintail. When Theresa and Johnathon were out west, Johnathon served as the Administrator at Camp Douglas. Returning to Ontario, he worked at the Royal Bank for seven years in the area of agriculture. Together, Johnathon and Theresa are raising their three beautiful children Jay, Lucy, and Anna.

Jen is a former camper and summer staff member at Camp Kintail. She brings camping and Christian education experience from Camp Christopher, Camp Geddie and Rosedale Presbyterian Church. Her professional experience also includes working nationally for The Presbyterian Church in Canada, as Regional Staff for the Synod of Saskatchewan and in project management at the University of Toronto. We are very happy to have her come home as a full-time year round staff member who will help manage the growth of the ministry and mission at Camp Kintail.

Christin “Hydra” Gillard arrived at Kintail just in time to see the camp break ground on the Nest, and has loved working on site ever since. Christin has her Honours Bachelor’s Degree in Media Communications from the University of Guelph and a Diploma in Media Studies from Humber College. Originally from Mount Brydges Ontario, Christin grew up attending North Caradoc Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Strathroy where she served as a ruling Elder, attended General Assembly as a Y.A.R. and has written articles and blog posts for the Presbyterian Record. She spends her time at Kintail working with registration, managing the media accounts and website maintenenance, as well as all the other tasks that make Kintail so engaging and fun!

Lily "Bloom" Marchese (she/her) joined the Kintail team as a camp counsellor, to later discover her love for hospitality, events and meeting new people. Bloom has multiple years of experience working with children and young adults, and has found amazing growth in her career at Camp Kintail. Bloom loves the outdoors, conversing with people, flowers, and taking care of the bunnies!

Rev. Jen “Maranta” Sokolowsky began serving at Camp Kintail in the winter of 2022. Jen came to Kintail passionate about helping to create an unforgettable experience for Wedding Couples as well as community groups who rent Kintail’s space. Jen also deeply enjoys her role with Kirk in the Cedars, Kintail’s new worshipping community. Jen earned a B.A. from McMaster University, focusing on Sociology and Religious Studies. She has a Masters of Divinity degree from Knox College, University of Toronto. From 2005-2014 Jen served at Armour Heights Presbyterian Church as their Associate Ministers for Children, Youth and Young Families. From 2015-2022 she served as Minister of Erindale Presbyterian in Mississauga. Jen has two teens, Niamh and Eoghan, whom she adores. She is married to Dave, who happens to be the most supportive husband in the world (you’ll often find him washing dishes, driving the golf cart or running errands for camp!).

Fern "Onion' Johnson has worked at Camp Kintail through the summers and has enhanced the community life of the camp year round. They provide resources to counsellors to ensure the highest level of care of campers with exceptionalities and additional needs while providing mentorship for the staff themselves.

Mark “Lobo” Mertens grew up near Peggy’s Cove Nova Scotia, but moved back to Ontario in 1989. He has worked in the Food Services industry for more than 37 Years, with 20 of those in the Camp and Conference Centre setting. While in Nova Scotia, he attended the Nova Scotia Institute of Technology and earned his degree in Food Services Technology. Mark developed his skills in university residences and restaurants, and received the Red Seal Certification in 1996. Working in the catering business, he had time to work in summer camps for summer, both large scale and specialized (Easter Seals). In 1997,Mark was approached by Fair Havens Ministries to become their Food Services Manager and Executive Chef, working there for 18 years in that capacity. Tracy “Luciolle” Archibald-Mertens started cooking at the Holiday Inn, working closely with the chef for 2 years. She then moved on to try different job opportunities such as accounts payable and receiving, cashier, and started her own cleaning business. 5 years later she worked as a lead hand overseeing a team of 10 at Schneider Foods. Tracy learned her passion for cooking and decided to work at a few restaurants and was given an opportunity to take over a restaurant as her own; a great opportunity to begin a new adventure. That new adventure gave her great satisfaction for her love of cooking. It was there that Tracy met Mark (Lobo) and fell in love. With that love and a great opportunity to move on to something new, Tracy came to work at Camp Kintail married Mark. She is now living happily ever after.

Hi, my name is Lindsey "Aura" Raymond, I am happy to have joined Camp Kintail in the past month as Office Manager and Registrar. I live in Lucknow, Ontario and am a member of the Lucknow Presbyterian Church and am involved with Messy Church. As a youth I attended Camp Menesetung, my dad’s childhood camp. I also attended Girl Guide Camps. I attended F.E. Madill in Wingham. I successfully earned my Office Administration & Educational Assistant diplomas from Georgian College With several years of experience in both fields, I couldn’t be happier to bring my diverse skillset to Camp Kintail. My spare time is spent tutoring elementary students & playing on two women’s slo-pitch ball teams.

Julia "Lune" McIssac joined the year-round staff as the Summer Camp Director in 2022. Julia has been a camper, LIT, summer staff, and fall staff at Camp Kintail. She recently completed an Outdoor Education program at Sir Sanford Fleming College. Her home congregation is St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Guelph. Julia is creative and loves spending time in arts and crafts as well as leading hikes and teaching about nature.

Chris “Eldur” Bridgwater hails from rainy England and is excited to enjoy the Canadian weather! His first experience with camp was the summer of 2010 at Camp Westminister in Michigan. He spent the next 6 summers doing a variety of jobs at Westminister – from Head Counsellor to Media Specialist and Expedition Coordinator. In 2019 Eldur joined us at Camp Kintail as one of our Leader In Training Resource Counsellors (L.I.T. R.C.). He now is our Assistant Director of Adventure-Based Learning, encouraging and challenging campers to reach their goals! Eldur enjoys rock climbing, cooking over a fire, and well – pretty much anything outdoors! If you are trying to find him, he can usually be found helping Titan out at the High Challenge Course, leading an Outdoor Living Skills session, or just generally helping out around the site where needed. He loves the camp community and can’t wait to deepen his roots in the years to come!

Abigail "Kai" Bezaire first experienced the magic at Camp Kintail in 2012 as a camper. From then on, she has come back to camp every year in many different roles and seasons. Most memorably as Waterfront Director in 2019. In recent years, Kai has studied Geology and Ecology at the University of Waterloo, and the world through her travels in Australia, South East Asia, Europe, and Canada. This will be her 5th year at Kintail, and 7th year working at summer Camps! Kai is excited to continue welcoming people to enjoy nature and grow deeper into relationships with themselves and others through their connections made here at Camp Kintail!

Daniel 'Digit' Hoogsteen was first on Kintail staff as a counsellor in 2017. Since then, he has studied for degrees in physics and library science at the University of Toronto. Daniel also spent 2023-24 working as the Faith Formation Coordinator at the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Toronto. His father, grandfather, and uncle were all Presbyterian ministers, but he has no (current) plans to attend seminary. Daniel is joined at camp by his cat Frankenstein