Letters of

Reference:

Student Recommendation

Maine Youth Leadership

Matthew Randall and Matthew Mower, Camp William Hinds

 

Camp William Hinds, BSA
146 Plains Rd.
Raymond, ME 04071
207-655-4878 (Phone & Fax)
 

Greetings,

It is my pleasure to write on behalf of Mr. William Picard and the work that he is doing with motivating the youth through his experiences. My relationship with Bill came about through my directorship of Camp William Hinds, a Boy Scout camp located in the Raymond area of Maine. Camp Hinds services over 1500 youth a year, ranging from the ages of 9 to 17, along with their adult leadership who attend the camp with them for the week. We offer a variety of programming — cooking, camping, motor boating, climbing, ocean kayaking, staff counselor training, and much more. It is a program that has been developed and grown over the past 83 years.

Over the years we have attempted to expand our program opportunities for our youth with the very limited time that we have during the week. The goal of the Boy Scouts of America is to create leaders, and part of that development is exposure to the value of tolerance. Being a nonprofit organization, finding creative and cost effective ways to provide quality experiences for the youth we serve is a challenging task. Thankfully, Bill was  willing to donate some of his time and successfully met all of the above criteria.

Bill became available to us at the beginning of the summer 05, 06, 07, and we have had a very wonderful association since that initial meeting. Bill would come to our camp on Friday nights when the youth, leaders, and parents would be participating in our end of the week Bar-B-Que. It was during the time between the Bar-B-Que and our closing campfire that Bill would conduct his 40 minute presentation for all interested parties. His presentation was exactly the right length for kids and contained the proper content for our guests. His program is a wonderful mix of crowd participation, speaking, demonstration, and use of informative handouts. His visits were always met with great enthusiasm and received high praise by those who attended. Over three summers, Bill spread his message to over 2,000 people.

I invited Bill to speak at one of our quarterly meetings where all the leaders in the Boy Scouting movement for the southern half of Maine come and get trained in new topics. Bill’s presentation of tolerance and understanding is just the type of training our leaders can use. We also hope to continue our relationship with Bill and invite him back to speak at our camp in 2010.

You will find no better platform for reaching kids (beside a school) than a summer camp. What Bill is attempting to grow and promote is a very valuable and necessary endeavor. Kids need to hear the content Bill has to share and he does this in a very positive, fun, and successful manner. We at Camp William Hinds fully endorse Bill Picard and his efforts and have enjoyed his company and support over the past summer seasons.

 

Sincerely,

Matthew Randall

 

Former Camp Director — Matthew Randall

Casco Bay Sr District Executive Boy Scouts of America and former Camp Director — Matthew Mower
Properties Superintendent — Bob Gosselin