March 21, 1996 started out like any other day in the life of truck driver Roland Denis.The owner -operator of a Manitoba-based truck- ing company, Denis was driving his semi-trailer along Michigan�s U.S. Highway Number Two. Denis� partner, Danny Bouchard was with him in the passen- ger�s seat. Yet, it would only take a few seconds for the life of Roland Denis to change dramatically.

Another semi-trailer heading in the opposite direction veered into the oncoming lane. The two semi -trailers collided head on, crushing both truck cabs and their occupants. When the paramedics arrived on the scene, the drivers of the trucks were pronounced dead. Howev- er, Danny Bouchard, the passenger in Roland Denis� 		arduous. Years of opera- tions and occupational therapy followed. Denis would walk and talk again but he would have to endure many losses. Denis and his wife Marie moved to Lockport, Manitoba � it was a lifestyle change for them both. But for Roland Denis it was a new lease on life � an opportunity to give back the gift he was given. �I had heard about Macdonald Youth Services� Jessie James Boys & Girls Ranch,� recalls Denis. �And I had always had an interest in horses and in young people. So, last year I started volunteering for MYS at the Ranch.� What ensued was Denis volunte- ering hundreds of hours of his time for Macdonald Youth Services throughout 1998 and 1999. At the Jessie James Ranch alone, he�s clocked more than 500 hours, cleaning barns, building fences, cutting and bailing hay, saddling
MYS Volunteer Roland Denis (L) on route to Elbow Lake Wilderness Camp

But the greatest gift Roland Denis may be giving to young people is in the work he has done at a remote camp in Nopiming Provincial Park along the Manitoba-Ontario border. It used to be that access to the long unused camp, which sits on the edge of the secluded Elbow Lake, could only be achieved via canoe and portage. But, thanks to Roland Denis
truck, luckily walked away with minor cuts and bruises. Denis� was placed into an ambulance with Bouchard, when moments later, Bouchard saw his partner Denis move. �He�s alive!�, Bouchard screamed to the paramedics, who then rushed Roland Denis to the hospital. Denis� injuries were extensive: crushed lungs and heart, bruised kidneys, broken shoulder and ribs, extensive head trauma � and his road to recovery would be long and horses as well as taking kids out on the horse-drawn wagons and on trail rides.

�It�s great just to see the smiles on their faces,� explains Denis.�To see an innercity kid ride on a horse for the first time or go out on a wagon ride... when I see their smiles it makes me feel like I�m accomplishing something. I feel like I�m showing these kids that there�s more to life than crime or watching TV or playing video games.�
and his tireless efforts, this has now changed.

This past summer, Denis made several trips to Nopiming, bringing along tools, building supplies and some able bodied friends. They cleared thousands of metres of bush on an old overgrown path to the camp, fixing bridges and grooming the trail along the way. At the camp, they cleared away the weeds and the brush, rebuilt the stairs and the landings to the two large cabins that are there, fixed the screens, doors and latches, as well as cleaned the buildings inside and out. Several weeks and hundreds of volunteer hours later, the MYS wilderness camp was transformed. In the autumn of 1999, working with staff from Native Alliance and Elmwood High School, Roland Denis guided five teenagers to this newly renovated remote camp. The three boys and two girls were from

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