The Calvary Bible Baptist Church in Whitefield plans to open a camp off Rt. 215 in Jefferson.
They hope the camp will be open summer 2011 for day camps and retreats, said Doug Richards, the youth pastor at Calvary Bible Baptist Church
The camp will be open to groups from any church, and “probably non-religious groups” also, Richards said.
At this time, they don’t have definite plans to build cabins, or run any overnight camps.
“Right now, it looks like empty land with a bathroom building on it,” Richards said. “We’d like to have cabins at some point, but it’s taken a lot of work just to get it cleaned up.”
Perley Bailey donated the land – about 65 acres – to Woolwich/Wiscasset Baptist Church in the mid-1960s. The church ran a camp on the property until 1976. The land was unused until it was donated to Calvary Bible Baptist three years ago.
Bailey’s grandson, Perley Dunham, has been heavily involved in revamping the camp.
In the last three years, the church and community volunteers have cleaned up the site and opened up and re-grassed two big fields, Richards said.
“The area was pretty much unusable when we first went out there,” he said.
They’ve redone the bathrooms, started work on a large ballfield and built a volleyball court. They plan to build a pond and a two-story main building this summer, Dunham said. In the future they plan to add a rifle range and a sledding hill.
Much of the work to build the camp was done by volunteers from the church and community.
Two boy scouts came out to help with construction as charity work towards becoming eagle scouts.
Ryan Spicer cleared a walking trail and Roger Guptill built four new picnic tables.
The money to pay for the work came from the church and from fundraisers run by the Sheepscot Links Golf Course in Whitefield.
Along with raising money for the camp, the golf course volunteered labor to plant the new grass for their fields.
Hannaford Bros. Supermarkets arranged the donation of kitchen and bathroom supplies from the old Cony High School when it closed in 2007. Bath Iron Works donated beverage dispensers and the Augusta Waterworks donated a three-phase generator.
In total, the church has received $16,000-$17,000 for construction, on top of the equipment and supplies.
“People have been really good to us,” Dunham said. “We’ve had so much help so far, even though I think a lot of people are afraid to donate to a church project. But we’re all just trying to make things better in life, and this camp is for everybody.”
Although he feels like many people’s interest in the project is already waning, Dunham is confident the project will be a success. They just need time and money, Dunham said.
For now, the church is working steadily on the camp, with ample support from the community, but they’re always looking for more help.
“It’s expensive to build a camp, but in the long run we hope we can save the local churches a lot of money,” Richards said. “Most kids in Maine can’t afford to go the camps that are out there, and we want a place where we can keep camp affordable.”
Dunham agreed. “This is going to be a nice place for people that won’t cost you anything. And not just churches, not just boy scouts – anyone can go out and have a good time.”
