My name is Jennifer and I have the honour and privilege of being the Administrator
of Rainbow Day Camp.
Not only was Will part of my Rainbow family, I also consider him part of my own
family. I have 2 boys who adored having him as a babysitter. I would come home
from being out for a few hours and the kitchen would be a mess, all the food in the
house was eaten, there were no more cushions on the couch because they used
them to make forts and I’d find them all curled up together in one chair reading the
7th bedtime story (sometimes my children picked a French book because they
thought it was funny to hear him try to read it!). As a Mom, is there a better feeling?
A few years ago, the day after camp finished when most counsellors are curled up in
a ball in preparation for sleeping for 5 days straight, I called Will because I needed a
favour. My kids were in a triathlon and my husband’s plane got delayed so he
couldn’t come. “Will, I need you to go into the water with Sam (who was 4 at the
time) for the swimming portion, help him change to get on his bike and then help
him run across the finish line. Oh, and I need to pick you up at 6:30 tomorrow
morning”. I’d LOVE to, he said, that sounds GREAT! And I really believe he meant it.
When I picked him up the next morning, he had his usual smile on his face, had
packed an insanely big lunch and he got my kids all pumped up for the triathlon by
singing camp songs at the top of his lungs all the way to Fergus. And I mean all the
way to Fergus!
Watching him connect with children was magical. Watching him connect with his
fellow counsellors was inspiring.
Generations of Rainbow campers will become better adults because they knew him.
I’ve watched him for 6 years so I know how special he was. For the last 4 days, I’ve
been receiving messages from Rainbow families telling me how special THEY
thought he was and sharing the impact Will had on their children’s lives. I’m not
talking “my kid liked him, she thought he was cool” kind of impact. I’m talking
genuine “my 6-year-old son was non-verbal and his first word was Will” kind of
impact. I’m talking “life-changing” kind of impact. He significantly impacted more
lives in his short 19 years than most of us put together and there isn’t one person he
met who didn’t remember him.
I’ve often wondered where his incredible compassion comes from. Last night, I
finally got my answer. Paul and Laura, on such a difficult day, you took time to
connect with every single person who came to pay their respects – every single one.
You got in trouble for holding up the line but you didn’t care because you needed to
make sure you connected with everybody and that they got what they needed – you
took care of people and comforted them. Who DOES that at their son’s funeral? Will
would. So it’s no longer a mystery to me or to any of us where Will got his incredible
gift.
Sometimes these terrible things happen, people are sad, people grieve, people
promise they will never forget, they vow to keep the person’s memory alive and say
they will become better people – that’s always somehow the silver lining. A bit of
time goes by and although people don’t forget, the pain dulls a bit, it gets easier to
breathe and people go back to “normal”. As I stand here in front of you today, I vow
to you that none of us at Rainbow will go back to “normal”. I will make sure that his
legacy lives on and that we will be better. WWWD (What Would Will Do?) will be
part of the vocabulary long after I’ve left Rainbow and the answer to that question
will make everybody better.
Will Medeiros is a legend and his footprint at Rainbow is immeasurable. Campers 20
years from now will know who he was not only because we will tell them about him
but because each year, we will pass on everything he has taught us to the new crop
of counsellors and they will unknowingly be impacted by Will because they will be
better. In the Lion King, Rafiki hits Simba on the head with his stick and says “he lives
in you” when referring to his father. I will make sure that Will lives in all of us and if
anyone forgets, I will hit them on the head with my stick.
My second promise is to Paul and Laura and it’s on behalf of this crew right here.
You know that we are Will’s other family and that we are better people for having
worked with him. If he was in our shoes, WWWD? He would step up and take care
of everybody. And that is what they are vowing to do – Adam and Tess, whether you
like it or not, Rainbow love is coming to you. We will be here, we will make sure you
are ok and although no one can ever replace your big brother, we will take care of
you as best we can and our best is pretty good because we had the greatest teacher.
It seems only fitting that I would end with: Heeeeeeyyy Rainbow???
(The counsellors answered “heeeeyyyy what?” and chose to sing “Alligator”, Will’s
favourite. They were too emotional and couldn’t get through the Rainbow song…)