HOULTON, Maine — Summer fun came to an end Friday for a group of 26 youths participating in the Adopt-a-Block’s “Just for Boys” camp.
The three-week boys-only camp is designed to offer activities and positive role model relationships for the youth, explained Lisa Surran, one of the camp organizers.
“We try to make the camp available first to kids who might not have any other opportunities in the summer,” she explained. “We try to target kids who might be at-risk or in single-parent households where financial resources may not be available to send the child to regular camp. This camp is provided free of charge.”
In its fifth year, the camp has grown considerably over the years.
“Our first year, we started out with just 12 boys,” Surran said. “We realized we could make this work and from there it has grown. Twenty-six seems to be a good number, because if you have more than that, you lose the relationship-quality with the kids. That is one of our main goals.”
This year, the Military Street Baptist Church received some assistance from a group of teenagers from St. Catherine’s School in Lowell, Mass., who were in The County as part of a missionary trip
“We had the labor this week to really make some progress on our cross country trails,” Surran said. “It was an opportunity for that group to do some trail work and also interact with our boys camp.”
The church sits on 40-acres of land, including a pond. Over the winter, the church created snowshoeing and cross country skiing trails on the property, offering free equipment to use thanks to a partnership with Maine Winter Sports.
In the spring and summer, the trails are covered with growth.
“Our end goal is to make our trails more walk-run friendly and maybe even allow biking,” Surran said.
On Thursday, the youth participated in a fishing derby, which for some marked the first time they have ever caught a fish.
“Boys camp has been just amazing,” said Pastor Randall Burns. “We have had some wonderful opportunities to get the boys doing some things that were beyond their comfort zone. The whole thing has been to challenge that which is beyond us. A lot of them were able to do some extraordinary things that they didn’t think they could do.”
Noah Blevins, one of the camp participants, was overjoyed at catching a fish during the fishing derby.
“I caught one,” Blevins exclaimed while jumping up and down.
Other boys were less interested in fishing and more intent on searching for frogs.
Burns added one of the primary purposes of the boys camp is to bring positive male role models experiences for the youth.
“Male bonding is huge,” he said. “We have a lot of people who volunteered this summer and have been representations of what good men act like.”
