Transforming Pine Tree Camp
Background
Pine Tree Camp has been impacting lives for 65 years. While the commitment to providing an extraordinary summer camp experiences to Maine children and adults with disabilities has remained steadfast, there have been a lot of changes since Pine Tree Camp opened in 1945.
- Demand for services have increased. In 1945, the camper population was 75. In 2009, 609 campers will spend time on North Pond during the summer. An additional 600-700 people with disabilities will visit Pine Tree Camp in the fall, winter and spring.
- Programming has expanded, allowing campers to participate in activities that they never would have dreamed possible – things like kayaking, hiking on accessible nature trails and spending time in Maine’s only fully accessible treehouse.
- The needs of campers have increased, in fact an increasing number of campers are considered medically fragile, requiring an increase in of staff and a state-of-the-art facility.
Pine Tree Camp’s facility has also changed with the times. In 1945, the buildings were certainly not accessible and barrier free. The campers, many of whom had significant mobility issues stayed in cabins with steep stairs, no ramps and uneven floors. In the 1960s the camp undertook a capital campaign in order to rebuild aging, inaccessible camper cabins. Following the capital campaign, efforts to enhance the camp facility was taken on building by building, retrofitting existing buildings in a cost-effective manner.
Today, Pine Tree Camp’s 285-acre facility features 34 buildings many of which are showing their age, despite the constant care and upkeep managed by the committed facility staff. In addition, many buildings are not meeting the increased needs of campers. For example, the camper cabins, dating back to the 1960s, do not offer the open space necessary for today’s large motorized wheelchairs. Space is cramped and often campers do not have ample space in which to navigate their home away from home. The lack of air circulation and climate control in many buildings has also become an issue. This is true especially as Pine Tree Camp has seen an increase in campers who are medically fragile, many of whom cannot regulate their own body temperature making high temperature not just uncomfortable but dangerous.
