After earning his professional accounting degree, Ken built a career that included owning a food service company, working in financial management for a major international food corporation, and serving as Chief Financial Officer at World Vision Canada for fifteen years. He then spent another fifteen years in public practice, specializing in personal and corporate tax, consulting, and auditing, with a particular focus on Canadian charities. In 2003, Ken became President of Speroway, a Canadian relief and development agency, where he served until his retirement in 2014. During his time at Speroway, he was approached by the Chief of Mishkeegogamang First Nation in Northern Ontario, who requested a summer program for the community’s children. Without hesitation—and with some gentle persuasion—Ken told his daughter Karen that she was the one for the task, firmly believing God had a greater purpose for this new venture. His vision took root, and the program has continued to thrive in Mishkeegogamang for more than 18 years.
The Community of Mishkeegogamang will be honouring him during the closing ceremonies of their family camp.
Your DONATION will enable us to provide more space for youth from Mishkeegogamang to participate in our INITE EDUCATION PROGRAM.
The vision of Burning Stone Ministries (BSM) is to partner with Canadian Indigenous communities in order to connect with young people – not only to provide love and support, but to also seek out opportunities to come alongside and walk with them through their pain and struggles, and to offer resources for them to find new ways of making decisions to commence living from a safe place. A major goal of the BSM vision is to see the youth using their learned skills and exercising their voices as their God-given identity becomes evident and their confidence grows.
It was over a decade ago, when a 3-week day camp program for children was established in the community of Mishkeegogamang Ojibway First Nation, Ontario. This established a relationship between the community and Karen Ward, who organized and directed the camp for several years. As the children became older, they began to show a desire to take on leadership roles and ultimately began assisting in the camp program.
Burning Stone Ministries (BSM) evolved out of a desire on the part of the day camp founders to continue a relationship with the youth from the community, especially those who had shown an interest in further developing their leadership skills. Recognizing the insufficiency of educational opportunities allowing the youth to complete their education, and the absence of available resources necessary to meet the needs of Indigenous youth that will develop them as future leaders of their Indigenous communities, goals were developed which would offer the youth a) assistance in achieving educational goals, b) opportunities for youth to recognize their struggles and find healing, and c) provide deeper leadership-building opportunities.