Since 2019, Dolphin Gaming has partnered with Camp Kirk, contributing close to $800,000 in funding. This generous support has gone a long way toward making camp the welcoming, accepting and confidence-building place our campers experience each summer.
What many people don’t realize when they head out for a fun night of bingo is that the money they spend supports more than 2,600 charities across the province. The Ontario Charitable Gaming Association advocates for charities and non-profits that raise funds through gaming. It also helps strengthen this important source of funding for community services across Ontario.
What does that mean? A lot, actually.
The association works with municipalities to determine charities’ eligibility and establish standards and policies. Gaming centres such as Dolphin Gaming have local charity associations and designated individuals who provide support to participating organizations.
Charities contribute by sending volunteers to gaming centres to help raise funds for their programs. These volunteers play an important role: they support customers, help create a positive experience and raise awareness of their organizations by explaining how gaming proceeds benefit the local community.
Camp Kirk has a dedicated team of volunteers who visit Dolphin Gaming on our behalf each month.
One of the greatest benefits of this partnership is that these funds aren’t grants we need to apply for or donations we need to seek from individuals. The funding is built into the system—month after month, game after game. Most nights of the week, a room full of people marks their bingo cards, and a portion of the money raised helps pay the counsellors who deliver our summer programs.
That kind of steady support is rare. Our partnership with Dolphin Gaming continues to come through for us, and its reliability helps us plan our budget each spring.
During the 2026 season, funding from Dolphin Gaming covered the salaries of 38 summer camp staff members. We had an incredible team, including 21 returning staff members, nine former campers and 11 international staff members.
It’s wonderful to know that international staff choose to spend their summers with us in Canada. For people like Beth, who returned from southern England for her third summer, Camp Kirk has become a second home.
“There is a special magic here at camp,” Beth says. “It’s a place where both staff and campers can feel at home and be free to be completely themselves.”
We hear it again and again: Camp Kirk is a place where everyone can be themselves. This is especially important for our neurodivergent campers. Throughout the year, they often navigate spaces that aren’t designed with their ways of thinking, communicating or experiencing the world in mind.
At Camp Kirk, we look beyond surface-level behaviour and take the time to understand each child’s individual needs. We go the extra mile to get to know our campers and their families, allowing us to create care plans that help every child thrive. We also design our recreational programs to support the needs of neurodivergent children and youth.
We’re incredibly grateful that our partnership with Dolphin Gaming allows us to bring together such an outstanding team each summer.
The next time you grab your dauber and spend an evening playing bingo with friends, remember that your fun is helping to change lives. Plus, you might even get the chance to yell “BINGO!” yourself.