Monday
morning ground was broken on the multi-million dollar dining hall and Thornton
Family STEM/NOVA Education Center at Camp William Hinds in Raymond. With the
newly arrived IRT soldiers watching on, Captain Christopher Scannell acted as
master of ceremonies.
“The
Pine Tree Council is striving to become the number one Scouting destination in
the Northeast region and this IRT partnership is a key component to reaching
that goal,” said Scannell.
Through
the IRT program, military personnel from all over the country and two British
Army Commandos, come to Raymond in partnership “where the Pentagon provides
leadership, tradesmen, fuel, vehicles, and equipment for four months each
summer.”
“This
will be a place where young men come to learn skills that will last throughout
their lives,” said Scannell, referring to Camp Hinds.
Scout
executive and CEO Eric Tarbox addressed the gathering. “Founder [of Boy Scouts]
Baden Powell did not come from a family of means.” Baden Powell dreamed of
success through hard work, merit and achievement regardless of where they came
from, Tarbox continued. Camp Hinds is within a day’s drive of 50 percent of the
nation’s population and he’d like to see the camp a household name across the
country.
“This
isn’t tactical, it’s strategic,” Tarbox said.
Colonel
Eric Lind from the Maine Air Guard spoke about his experiences as a 10-year
Scoutmaster with his sons, who are both Eagle Scouts, the highest rank in Boy
Scouting. “It’s emotional and unbelievable. Something happens in a week down
here without electronics. It’s magic,” he said.
Lind
compared the training leaders in the military versus the Boy Scouts training
leaders. The military spends millions of dollars to produce leaders, but the
Scouts create leaders in a safe environment where they are allowed to make
mistakes, he said.
“Hundreds
of kids that come through here will talk about this for the rest of their
lives,” he finished.
Horace
Horton, the capital campaign co-chair and the current president of the board of
directors for Pine Tree Council BSA, described the partnership as a “Once in a
century opportunity to do what we are doing.” He also announced that Camp Hinds
will be purchasing the last remaining piece of land on the other side of the
Tenny River, thus expanding the camp.
Donors
from all over were also in attendance. Tom Yost from Smith & Wesson has
been a sponsor for the shooting sports programs at Camp Hinds and said he was
“proud to be a part of the team.”
Joe
Picoraro, vice president of PC Construction and an Eagle Scout, has been
involved in Scouting for 25 years as a Scoutmaster and on all of his camping
trips with his troop 23 to Camp Hinds he stayed in the Baden Powell campsite,
which is now the new location of the dining hall. PC Construction donated all
of the pre-planning services including estimating, scheduling and
constructability reviews between the military and the Scouts. He predicts that
in 10 to 20 years, the site of the dining hall will be the center of Camp
Hinds.
Architect
Janet Hansen with SMRT and Andrew Bradley the structural engineer from SMRT
were both on hand to help in the groundbreaking.
Other
donors present, but not all, were Lowes, Walmart, American Steel and Aluminum
LLC, R.J. Grondin & Sons, The Hissong Group, Casco Bay Steel Structures,
Inc., Nox-Crete and Yerxa’s Oil & Power Equipment.
The
Town of Raymond will also benefit from having the IRT staying at Camp Hinds.
Town Manager Don Willard thanked the military for what they are doing for
Raymond and the country.
“This
is a great asset for us to have,” said Raymond assessing assistant Danielle
Loring.
From
Theodore Roosevelt’s quote to demonstrate the mission of the Boy Scouts of
America, “Every child has inside him an
aching void for excitement and if we don’t fill it with something which is
exciting and interesting and good for him, he will fill it with something which
is exciting and interesting and which isn’t good for him.”
