Nonprofit Spotlight: Gander Brook Christian Camp

Children in Maine are aware that summer never lasts as long as they wish, but there is a way for them to make the most of the season by attending a legendary camp in Raymond where they can experience adventure in a positive, safe, and encouraging setting.

Gander Brook Christian Camp in Raymond is offering new
day camps Mondays through Fridays for children ages 6
to 13. Visit www.ganderbrook.org/ for more details or
to register. COURTESY PHOTO 

Gander Brook Christian Camp provides kids 8 to 18 with a rustic camping experience whether it’s overnight or during the day where they can make lifelong friendships, strengthen their faith and simply to enjoy what it is like to be a child.

Owned and operated by the Churches of Christ in New England, Gander Brook Christian Camp is located at the corner of Ledge Hill Road and North Raymond Road and sits on 222 acres as well as additional waterfront property on Raymond Pond. Sessions are during the day Monday through Friday or overnight from Saturday to Saturday. Sessions run weekly from the last week of June through the first week of August.

Steve Mezzapelle of Gander Brook Christian Camp first came to the camp at age 8 and attended every year until he was 18 and even returned as a camp counselor for several summers when he was in college. He currently serves on the camp’s Board of Directors.

“It made such a huge impact on my life,” he said. “This is a hidden gem nobody knows about. Gander Brook is the reason why I fell in love with Maine and the reason I wanted to move here. It had that great of a positive impact on my life.”

The camp has been operating in Raymond since 1959 and is guided by a Board of Directors from around New England. It is staffed by two directors, a staff of 16 to 20 camp counselors and an activities director. Volunteers staff the kitchen, the camp canteen and camp laundry, and there are also merit badge instructors, nurses, and Bible instructors. Camp counselors change each year and are recruited from the leading Christian colleges across America. The two camp directors have been with the camp for more than two decades.

The camp is non-denominational, affordable, and open to all children. Overnight campers bunk in cabins with kids their own age for their weeklong stay and their daily schedule includes, meals, Bible classes, earning merit badges such as outdoor cooking, archery, ropes course, tie dyeing, sign language and more plus afternoon sports and swimming/kayaking, cabin challenge games and evening activities such as skit nights, Crazy Olympics, scavenger hunts, nature classes, bonfires, and cookouts. Day campers between the ages of 6 and 13 experience all the daytime activities and receive breakfast and lunch every day.

“We wanted more kids to experience Gander Brook, so we opened it up this year for both day campers and overnight campers,” Mezzapelle said. “Day campers can sign up on a week-by-week basis or for throughout the summer.”

Gander Brook provides campers with a good, healthy, faith-based environment away from the chaotic stresses that can often surround children. No electronic devices are allowed, so it’s a great place for kids to unplug and connect with people and nature and to just have fun. For many campers, lifelong friendships are forged, and those friendships and the people associated with Gander Brook Christian Camp are what make this camp special.

Mezzapelle said that campers find encouragement and an environment which makes everyone feel special and respected like they are family.

The Gander Brook Christian Camp site itself is one of Maine’s historic properties. On the site, the Wilson Hotel and Spring Company, with its centerpiece inn known as “The Wilson” was built in 1890. The Noraco Inn was built on the site in 1929 on the berms seen in the Wilson Hotel pictures, and which still surrounds the lodge today at Gander Brook. When the inn closed around 1950, the property was vacant for nine years. The Churches of Christ in New England saw a need for summer camping and organized a Board of Directors which purchased the 200-acre property in 1959 and has been operating a summer camp program each summer since then.

“This is such a beautiful place, and we want the community to know about it and for young people to experience it for themselves,” Mezzapelle said.

Openings for children are currently available at Gander Book Christian Camp for this summer.

For more details about Gander Brook Christian Camp or to sign up, visit https://www.ganderbrook.org/ or find them on Facebook and Instagram under Gander Brook Christian Camp. <