“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves in Autumn.” -John Muir
Dear Pine Islanders,
As the year gets underway, we reflect on PIC’s remarkable Directors — past, present and future — and all they have done to preserve and protect our beloved Pine Island over the generations. We are grateful to Monte Ball for a lifetime of extraordinary service to PIC, for 20 years of Lion Hunts and Gracious Living during his time as Director. We offer our deepest thanks to Ben Swan for taking the reins from Monte and leading PIC for the next 30 years, galvanizing the PIC community during his tenure as Director, and for his continued dedication to the Camp in the years since. We express our gratitude to Sumner Ford, for assuming the mantle from Ben and guiding PIC skillfully through a global pandemic, which showed what the Pine Island community can do in the face of adversity (be it wind, rain or COVID) under steady leadership. We will be cheering Sumner in his last summer as Director and wishing him all the best in the years to come. And we welcome our new Director, Alex Toole, as he takes the whistle from Sumner; we have no doubt that Alex will continue in the tradition of spectacular leadership that these remarkable Directors brought to PIC. Please raise a paddle, raise an oar in gratitude to our Directors — thank you!
All of these Directors have brought their energy and talents in support of an ideal that we Pine Islanders hold dear: that boys need places like Pine Island, perhaps now more than ever. We need places that teach our children the beauty, the essentiality, and the fragility of nature. We need places that allow our boys to explore, to wonder, to breathe, to make new friends in a community that is connected by laughter and shared experience, rather than by fiber-optic cable — a community which begins with a transformational six weeks on a magical island and then lasts a lifetime. We need places where our boys can learn self-reliance, self-knowledge and independence, in a natural environment free of screens and over-curating. And as PIC parents and alumni, we take comfort in knowing that Pine Island is still there, up in the north Maine woods, and always will be.
If you’ve already given to our Annual Fund, thank you! The 2023 Giving Report details how your contributions are being deployed by the camp. If you haven’t given yet, please take a moment today to honor our Directors — Monte, Ben, Sumner, and Alex — and to ensure the continued vitality of our beloved Pine Island. Please give to the 2024 PIC Annual Fund — because we need Pine Island now more than ever.
Akka Lakka !
Stuart Murray
Camper ‘83-84, Counselor ‘91, Parent ‘22-24