Family business offers unique rewards

WOLF CREEK, Sask. — When Robin Exner and Barb Price were staff members at Circle Square Ranch in the early 1990s, they could never have imagined that they would still be at the same camp 25 years later. However, after their courtship and marriage, followed by the birth of their first child, the Saskatchewan couple decided to take on the job of running the ranch in 1998. Seventeen years later, Robin and Barb and their four children are the driving family force that keeps the year-around children’s camp and retreat centre running smoothly. “I look at it as a calling,” said Exner, executive director of Circle Square Ranch near Wolseley, Sask. “I feel like I grew up here because I was a camper here and then I went on to be a summer staff member, and even in high school and university I always came back in the summers to volunteer.” Exner serves as the general overseer of operations at the ranch and Price is an assistant, having served in a variety of roles from office clerk to kitchen manager. Eighteen-year-old Olivia runs the junior horse program, 16-year-old Morgan is a staff member, 14-year-old Tanner takes care of grass cutting and odd jobs and 12-year-old Nadine does canteen duty and housekeeping. Nadine is still fortunate enough to get a week off and become a camper like the other kids her age. With up to 650 campers and staff passing through the ranch’s doors each summer and numerous other groups visiting during the fall, spring and winter, Circle Square is a multi-faceted operation that requires input from the entire Exner family. “We feel a calling to do it and work with youth because we want to make a difference,” said Barb, who sees many children blossom during the summer camp program. The camp features one-week sessions for campers aged six to 18. Programming includes horseback riding, wall climbing, archery and water sports set in a Christian-values atmosphere. Children come from across Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba and stay in stationary covered wagons, each containing eight