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Construction is underway on Camp Sunshine's new facilities on 15 prime acres adjacent to Point Sebago Golf & Beach Resort on Sebago Lake in Casco.

Since 1984, Dr. Lawrence and Anna Gould, Point Sebago owners, have turned over their resort to Camp Sunshine for several weeks each spring and fall. Over the years, the camp has hosted 2400 families with children having life-threatening diseases, referred from 100 treatment centers internationally.

Camp Sunshine is unique because it provides services for entire families as well as their afflicted children and siblings. Children with life-threatening or terminal diseases, such as cancer, lupus, and kidney diseases, require constant care. Blood work, surgery, chemotherapy, and other treatments can involve long hospital stays, painful treatments, and mounting medical bills that result in emotional, physical and financial stress for parents, while brothers and sisters often suffer from lack of attention.

The camp provides professional counseling, workshops and, most importantly, fun through recreational opportunities in a family camping atmosphere. It provides a respite from the physical, emotional, and financial burdens a serious illness places on all family members.

Because increasing demand has compelled the camp to reject 50% of all applicants in recent years, the board of directors, which includes Anna and Larry Gould, concluded that a drastic change was needed: Camp Sunshine needed a place of its own, a facility that would not need to turn people away.

The Goulds donated 15 acres of prime land adjacent to Point Sebago, fund raising began (to date, about $2.5 million of an estimated $6 million needed for the facility to be operational by 1999 has been raised), designs were drawn up, and

		construction started last February.

Much of the 15 acres will be devoted to trails, swimming and boating areas, and other recreational facilities. A 23,000 square foot family activity center will house meeting rooms, dining facilities, a teen center, a tot-lot, a nursery, administrative offices, and an indoor pool. There will be accommodations for 40 families and 60 volunteers each week, and a residence for visiting physicians and other professionals.

• no longer need to turn away families in need of rejuvenation
• expand counseling and workshop programs to assist families struggling with the disruption of family, social, and economic life that such diseases bring
• make the programs available for six months each year, for at least 1000 families and 1500 volunteers
• operate during prime summer weeks when families can attend without school considerations
• offer more volunteering opportunities during traditional vacation times
• be more flexible in session length, and types of illnesses served

Staffed almost entirely by volunteers, Camp Sunshine could not operate without them. This year, 300 volunteers (75 per week) will serve 270 families (45 per week). When the new facilities are in operation, more than 1500 volunteers will be needed each year to provide caring, food service, baby-sitting, recreational leadership, and counseling.

Volunteers come from all over the country, from all walks of life. Usually volunteering for a week at a time, they include retirees, doctors, nurses, social workers, teachers, and students. Many return year after year.

Organizing an army of volunteers would be a tactical headache for most, but not for volunteer Joe Pappalardo, a Raymond resident, President of Camp Sunshine's Board of Directors. Maine Senator Susan Collins, speaking at Camp Sunshine's Open House & Groundbreaking Ceremony at Point Sebago Beach Pavilion on May 18, summed it up well: "I doubt even they (Larry and Anna Gould) realized that their generosity would touch so many lives. Not only the lives of the children and their families, but the lives of thousands of volunteers who make this camp truly a center of caring and volunteering ? We've already heard about the great Papa Joe who has been coordinating volunteers for 14 years here. He has been the inspiration behind the volunteer work force that runs Camp Sunshine. His Leadership, hard work and devotion to the camp are just some of the reasons that it runs so well. Camp Sunshine will look to over 1500 volunteers a year to allow the facility to operate. A huge job for Papa Joe."

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