8116-R4_MSA_Sep2022_MaineSnowmobiler

50 th Annual Dysart’s Snowmobile Ride-in to benefit Pine Tree Camp By: Adria King

Dear Maine Snowmobiling friends, I amsohappy tobewriting toyou today from the shores of North Pond. This week we are thrilled to host 13 families who have come to participate in our all-new Family Camp programming.

to each camper containing arts and crafts materials, s’mores supplies and everything else they needed for their virtual camp session. In the summer of 2020, we launched Adventure Day Pass, an opportunity for campers to come to Pine Tree Camp with their family and participate in all of the activities they love on North Pond. Campers and their families were able to choose their own adventure with activities like kayaking and nature trail hikes. The feedback was incredible and so we expanded Adventure Day Pass to offer it year round adding activities like adaptive biking, snowmobiling and ice fishing. While covid has been incredibly challenging, the Pine Tree Camp team has faced the challenges with creativity and innovation, developing new programs designed to impact our Maine people with disabilities and their families while keeping them safe. Through it all, we have discovered new ways to transform lives that we will continue and expand. While thenewprogramming isexciting and impactful, we were thrilled to, in June, welcome campers back to North Pond for overnight summer camp sessions. There is nothing like opening day of an overnight session – and this year there was extra excitement in the air. Campers were thrilled to be back together, in person, and caregivers were thankful for a brief respite from the demands of caring for a loved one with a disability. For many, it was the first break they had had for two years.

All of this has been possible thanks to the support of friends like you. Last year the 49 th annual Dysart’s Snowmobile to benefit Pine Tree Camp raised more than $125,000. Every dollar raised went directly to Pine Tree Camp’s Open Door Policy Fund, ensuring that all campers and all families could participate in any Pine

Tree Camp programming regardless of their ability to pay tuition. This promise to our campers is more important than ever. As we gear up for the 50 th annual Dysart’s Snowmobile Ride-in to benefit Pine Tree Camp we would love to ask for your help. Please mark your calendar for February 4, 2023 and stay tuned for more details on plans for this exciting event. Until then,pleasereachout ifyouwould like a Pine Tree Camp representative to speak at an upcoming club meeting. I can be reached at aking@ pinetreesociety.org or (207) 386-5915. We thank you in advance for your support of our campers. Happy camping! Adria King Donor Relations Director Pine Tree Camp

If you are familiar with Pine Tree Camp you may remember that we are known for offering a barrier-free summer camp experience to Maine children and adults with disabilities. Summer camp is what we have been known for since 1945. More than 77 years and thousands of lives transformed. When the covid-19 pandemic hit, we knew we would have to evolve to meet the changing needs of our campers and their families. In March 2020 when everything around us was closing, Pine Tree Camp opened. We immediately launched Pine Tree Camp to You on Zoom to keep our campers connected, engaged and active during a time in which they needed us most. We hosted evening campfires, talent shows and sing-alongs. Pine Tree Camp was so popular that it continued with week-long camp sessions complete with boxes sent

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