Pine Tree Society Blog
“I’m going to big school”
“I’m going to big school” are words Karen McClure-Richard and her team at Pine Tree Society’s Early Learning Center work all year for a child to be able to say with confidence. “When they say those words, they’re showing their maturity and their age and their...
“I do all the things others do, I just do them differently.”
When John W. Conner passed away in 2017 at the age of 86, there were two things really important in his life that his family wanted to pay tribute to: the Shriners Hospitals for Children and Pine Tree Camp. “A lot of what he wanted to do, was able to do, and did do...
“She needed to trust somebody”
“I didn’t like the path I was going down. I wasn’t making good choices and I wanted a fresh life and people I could count on.” Julie is 42 years old and lives with intellectual disabilities. Since she decided to turn her life around, she’s never looked back. That’s...
Pine Tree Camp is never boring
In our lives when you spend time at a place long enough, you realize each place has its own distinct rhythm. Pine Tree Camp has always had a rhythm that you would never call normal. But it’s okay, normal is boring. Camp is a myriad of adjectives, but it’s never...
“I’d go back in a minute”
“I’d go back in a minute,” Joan McDonough just turned 83, and that’s how she feels about Pine Tree Camp. “It was home to me almost every summer.” She starting going in 1946, just one year after camp first opened, and went every year until 1951. “I had curvature of the...
Camp Communicate making things possible
14 years ago, Linda Bonnar, Director of Communication Pathways at Pine Tree Society, founded Camp Communicate, a retreat designed specifically for children who are non-verbal and who use computerized devices to communicate. Being the only one in school who uses a...
Local news coverage of Camp Communicate 2018
FOX 22 ABC 7 Bangor and WABI5 both came to Pine Tree Camp on Thursday, July 5 to see what Camp Communicate is all about. Linda Bonnar, Director of Communication Pathways at Pine Tree Society, founded Camp Communicate 14 years ago. It is a week of summer camp dedicated...
Ladan Iman
"Working here made me change my entire career path." 22-year-old Ladan Iman from Auburn has been working at Pine Tree Camp for the past four years. She started out as a counselor and has worked her way up to staff liaison, where she assists campers and their...
Accessible treehouse and nature trails
Wednesday, June 27th "I've never been in a treehouse until now." Pine Tree Camp gives people with disabilities the opportunity to immerse completely in nature. In 2010, Pine Tree Society partnered with The Treehouse Guys—a non-profit organization formally known as...