Smyrna couple host summer camp for kids

Pioneer Times photograph/Gloria Austin
AH, WHAT A FRIEND — Jane Zimmerman shows her son’s horse to youth during the Wilderness Day Camp held in Smyrna.
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
    SMYRNA — Last week, the final Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) Day Camp of the summer was held in Smyrna at the home of Tom and Jane Zimmerman, directors of the camp.
    CEF holds five Wilderness Camps throughout Aroostook County on five consecutive weeks beginning the second week of July and finishing at the beginning of August in Mars Hill, Presque Isle, Eagle Lake, Sherman and Smyrna, staying one week at each location.
    “Wilderness Day Camps have been going for probably 15 years or more,” said Alex Bourgoin of Mars Hill and director of the CEF in northern Maine. “In the last three years, we’ve gone from an average of 60 children to 70. This year is almost pushing [an average] of 75. We had 83 children on Monday [Aug. 8] in Smyrna.”
    The first CEF Wilderness Camp was held in Eagle Lake and they’ve fashioned the other camps after it. The camp runs daily 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for children ages 7-12. When children arrive, they are divided by ages and directed to a specific spot for attendance and preparation for the day’s events.
    “There are two or three leaders in each group,” Bourgoin explained. “The children are divided into what we call cabins, which is just their team, made up of eight or nine youth.”
    All of the children and leaders join for a welcome session, consisting of singing, skits and prayer.
    “The children put together skits explaining the theme of each day,” explained Bourgoin. “We go through the Gospel teaching by using five colors” —  yellow, black, red, white and green.
CRAFTS — Part of the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) Wilderness Day Camp in Smyrna has a time for crafts.
    Yellow describes the character of God— loving and holy — and is used because the Bible states there will be streets of gold in Heaven; the dark color, black, depicts sin and man’s not living up to God’s holy standard — the gap between Heaven and Hell — sin is the problem. The solution is presented on the next day, the color red, which is Christ’s blood sacrifice for forgiveness. Then, white stands for purity through repentance and asking forgiveness and the final color is green, a reminder of growing as God’s child.
    “There is a lot of hurt out there,” noted Bourgoin. “More and more kids come from single-parent homes.”
    Through the activities or teaching a story, a child may have a question in their mind and it is brought up to the leaders.
    “Each child, ideally, gets some one-on-one time with a leader,” Bourgoin explained. “It’s kind of a break away from the rest of the team so they can have a chance to express some of those things. I’m pretty sure, because we are teaching about concepts of love, forgiveness, repentance, kindness and attitude, along with those teachings and the gist of character you’ll find out a lot about kids.
    “When you start dealing with a character trait or lack of,  history comes up,” he added. “They are kids, so they aren’t going to be talking up a storm, but things come out.”
    At each camp in Aroostook County, a variety of people with different backgrounds are brought together for one cause — to teach love and forgiveness. Anywhere from three or four pastors in the area to as many as six depending on the year and their availability help with the camps.
    “We try to get our theology and doctrine very uniform,” explained Bourgoin. “CEF does have a doctrinal statement and people sign to follow that even though we have different churches involved. Though not extremely specific, we certainly have fundamentals that we believe should be taught.”
    Bourgoin noted that CEF tries to balance leaders in each group, so those who are coming in new aren’t just left on their own.
    “We put leaders together in a team that compliment one another,” he said. “Experience with lack of experience, to more knowledge of the program with those of less knowledge of the program. We do have orientation for all the staff the weekend before the camp and we also go through a child protection program.”
    CEF carries out background checks on all of their staff.
    “We perform the checks, we don’t just get authorization,” said Bourgoin. “Regardless of what someone is doing, a leader, the games or snacks, they are required to have a check done.”
LOVE — A young lady shares a kiss with a rooster at Tom and Jane Zimmerman’s residence during the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) Wilderness Day Camp. Part of the activities is learning about a farm and its animals. Other activities include hiking, canoeing and more.
    Bourgoin, who attended New Brunswick Bible Institute and has a diploma in theological studies, attended a CEF camp in Livermore Falls when he was 7 years old.
    “I was a camper and came right up through,” he said. “I have been working at camps, similar to this, and overnight camps.”
    CEF, according to Bourgoin, has a training for teenagers to prepare them for these type of ministries, along with Biblical training and principles. At CEF International in Missouri, a training institute, similar to a leadership training, is held, as well.
    “It’s more than just working with the programs, but leading the programs that CEF runs,” Bourgoin said. “It’s Biblical training, with a lot of practical [aspects like] how to teach, how to develop a lesson, how to put together a program to the schedule dynamics; are the activities safe and they are conducive for learning.”
    Even though the Smyrna camp had a day of rain, activities ran as usual.
    “The kids didn’t quit,” Bourgoin said. “We went canoeing, hiking and played games. We had campfires and times where they could dry off. They did well. Some days, we are rained out and we have to use a building on those days.”
    CEF Wilderness Camps are advertised by word of mouth, Bourgoin noted.
    “We are full and every year we add to our program so we can accommodate 10 more kids or so,” he said. “We fill up and have to turn away because we are just not set up to have larger numbers [at this time].”
    Bourgoin has been pleased with the community support.
    “The response from parents and community in every location, has been positive for years,”  he said. “We don’t know why, except the kids love it and they go home and say they like it. We have really been blessed that way and we appreciate all of the help of the community in return.”