Brit Smith And RKY Camp

Jeff Green | Nov 01, 2023

Arthur Britton (Brit) Smith was the founder of Homestead Holdings, one of the largest rental companies in Canada, with properties across the country. The company was founded in Kingston, where he lived, and remains based in the city.

During his long life, Brit Smith became well known in Kingston as a major philanthropist, donating very large sums to the Kingston University Foundation, the United Way, and numerous other causes.

He also made his mark on Eagle Lake.

When RKY camp was founded, it was a collaborative effort from three organisations, Rotary, Kiwanis, and the YMCA, RKY. Brit Smith was a member of the Kiwanis Club at the time, and he became involved in the founding, and funding, of the camp. So much so that he was instrumental in the camp obtaining charitable status, and was one the four signatories of the camp's charter. And his involvement in the camp did not end there by any means, and it will not even end this week with his death at the age of 104.

Darcy Munn took on the role of Executive Director in 2014, at a time when the camp's infrastructure was showing its age. One of his goals was to work on a revitalisation campaign. His first stop was a visit to see Brit Smith in Kingston.

“We really did not know, at that point, whether we were going to be fixing things up as much as we could, or doing a full scale revitalisation, which was going to cost a lot of money. He looked at our plans and said that he was on board and would support the revitalisation, which set us on our path.”

That project ended up costing $2.5 million, and included a large, new dining hall, with a modern kitchen, suitable not only as a dining area for the campers, but for large gatherings on a year round basis. The dining hall is called the Homestead building.

Smith's initial contribution towards the project was $485,000, but according to Darcy Munn, the support did not end there.

Periodically we would update him on our progress, and he sent further cheques, at key points, as the fundraising and construction phase continued.

In the end, the total was over $1million.

Back in 1978, when the original dining hall (which has now been repurposed as program space for the camp) was built, Brit Smith was also the largest donor to that building project.

“His commitment to RKY was deep and long lasting. We would not be in the position we are in now, we would not have been able to recover from the impact of COVID, in the way that we have, without his support,” said Munn.

And the commitment will not even be ending with Smith's death this week. A Foundation created by him, and his late wife Sally, has created an endowment generating enough interest to subsidise camp fees for 15 – 20 children who would not otherwise be able to attend the popular camp.

In an interview that was published in the Kingston Whig Standard in 2019 to mark his 100th birthday,

Brit Smith talked about his penchant for spreading his wealth among local charitable ventures in the Kingston region.

“What else can I do with it?” Smith said. “When you get to my age, it’s hard to figure out a way to spend money. I’m too old for most things — travel and things like that — and I have to put it somewhere,” he is quoted as saying.

In addition to RKY camp, Smith was a vital supporter of the Great Lakes Museum in Kingston, provided major funding to the University Hospital Kingston Foundation, and in 2014 provided $10 million to Queen's University, $9 million of which went to the School of Nursing and the Department of Surgery, and $1 million to the revitalisation of Richardson Stadium.