At the Closing Banquet of Ontario Camps Association (OCA) Conference on February 28, OCA President Jeff Bradshaw shared the following:
“As many of us are aware, John “Jorgi” Jorgenson steps down this fall as President of the International Camping Fellowship (ICF) after serving two terms over the past six years.
Jorgi, in fact, has served with remarkable distinction on the Executive of ICF since 1988 including 26 years as ICF Secretary/Newsletter Editor.
Jorgi has been at the centre of ICF’s growth and development over the past 32 years. First supporting former ICF President Jack Pearse and subsequent ICF Presidents and Boards. He has led the way for new national and regional camping associations to be formed in places like Australia, St Petersburg (Russia), Mexico, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Turkey and significantly now in China plus numerous others.
Along with names like Sako Tanaka from Japan and Russia’s Valery Kostin, he has been the face of ICF around the world over the past three decades. Not the Canadian face. THE face. He has led workshops, conference keynotes and facilitated meetings on five continents and in 30+ countries. Jorgi has been a major partner in the success of each Congress dating back to KUMBAYAH (St Petersburg, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Quebec, Hong Kong, Turkey, Sochi and now China). Jorgi is also the only person in the world who has attended all 11 of the previous International Camping Congresses beginning in 1983 in Toronto.
To acknowledge, honour and thank Jorgi, I’m pleased to announce tonight, by a unanimous vote of the OCA Board of Directors, that the OCA’s International Development Award, given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the international camping community through their leadership and their support of the camping philosophy, and first presented 25 years ago, will now and forever be known as the John “Jorgi” Jorgenson International Development Award.”
published in the OCA weekly newsletter on March 5th, 2020