BY KIM MARSHALL | OTISFIELD The painted rock by the driveway still says Camp Powhatan, but on the grounds work is progressing rapidly to ready the site for a different organization—Seeds of Peace—which hopes to preserve the memory of the former camp as it creates a new home of its own.
Recently, Seeds of Peace signed a 10-year lease on the Otisfield property, which hosted the initiative’s first two conflict-resolution programs for Arab and Israeli teenagers in the summers of 1993 and 1994. This summer will mark the first time since its founding that Seeds of Peace operates its own, month-long camp in Maine, rather than booking two weeks of time at an existing camp, like Powhatan.
The potential of a new, permanent camp is exciting to Seeds of Peace administrators, but at the same time represents a great deal of added effort. Arrangements must be made for services such as laundry and food preparation, and the property, which had become run-down in recent years, must be at least partially restored before campers arrive on July 20.
“Our biggest problem right now is to get the sewage system in,” said Tim Wilson, Seeds of Peace’s camp director, during this reporter’s recent visit to the property.
Although the 170 campers expected this summer won’t arrive for nearly two months, a typical morning at the camp finds Wilson working at top speed, fielding phone calls, wading through paperwork and attempting to nail down countless details concerning the camp’s operation. For the next few months, Wilson, currently a Pittsburgh resident with strong Maine ties, will live and work at the camp property—overseeing such projects as the sewage system repairs and the replacement of all of the camp’s kitchen equipment with the assistance of Glenn Pastore of Otisfield, the camp’s head of maintenance.
The work is daunting, and funding limited. Seeds of Peace had originally estimated that $75,000 would be needed for cosmetic improvements to the property, but that figure could be tripled by the time the work is completed, said Wilson. The initiative relies on donations and volunteer support to produce its programs each year, he said, with the bulk of funds received used to transport participants from the Middle East to the U.S. “Everything we do is based on no money,” said Wilson.
Fortunately, members of the community have begun to reach out to Seeds of Peace to lend a helping hand. Wilson cited the town office staff in Otisfield, Gene Benner of Bessey Motors, Oxford County Sheriff Lloyd “Skip” Herrick, and the staff at Norway Laundry as just some of those in the Oxford Hills who have helped him to make necessary arrangements. A donation of paint has been received from Wal Mart—all that will be needed to brighten up the property—and a boat for the waterfront area was recently contributed, as well. “Every day something new comes in that you least expect,” said Wilson.
That generosity also stretches beyond the Oxford Hills. A group from Youth Build in Portland is scheduled to help out at the camp this week, and a Job Corps group from Bangor is drafting a plan of the camp’s needed projects, said Wilson. But there will still be “labor intensive” tasks to complete—raking and general property clean-up, for example—and Wilson hopes that others will offer to assist.
The show of support has been greatly appreciated by Seeds of Peace directors, who want not only for the camp to be a “good neighbor,” but for “the community to feel this is theirs,” said Wilson.
“It’s the opening of something locally that will be known worldwide. It’s another piece of history in Maine,” he said.
Many of the initiative’s administrators have roots in Maine, such as Wilson and his wife, Jacquie, who oversees the camp’s food production, and consider the camp’s location to be a vital part of its success. The area is a safe haven for the Arab and Israeli youths, said Wilson, where there is peace and quiet, non-judgmental attitudes and “integrity of the people.”
For some, Seeds of Peace’s move into the former Camp Powhatan might have a bittersweet edge. For more than seven decades, beginning in 1921, Powhatan operated under the auspices of the Bloom family, who sold the property to Robert and Jane Toll in 1994. The camp holds a fond place in the memories of many, and Wilson, who was actually a counselor at Camp Powhatan years ago and co-director in 1993 with Dr. Joel Bloom, is no exception. He has “mixed emotions” about the closing of Powhatan, he said.
“But it’s a great legacy that Powhatan had something to do with Seeds of Peace’s beginning,” said Wilson.