The exhibit consists of about 125 pastels, colored pencils, markers, clay pots and weavings. Not including some of the larger weavings, prices range from $5 for a small ceramic piece to $500 for some of the pastels.
Last summer Faye Doran and her husband, biology professor Ron Doran, gave 15 “camperships,” or scholarships for Gander Brook campers, and five of the children who received these camperships were baptized. The Dorans intend to donate camperships for next summer as well, Faye said, and she thought the art show would be a good way to give additional money to sponsor campers.
“[Gander Brook] is just a focal point of Christianity in the New England area, and so we think it should be really helped any way that we can do it,” Faye Doran said. “And I thought, well, if people will come and they’ll buy some artwork, then we’ll be able to give that many more camperships than we would otherwise.”
So far, the art show has raised about $1,000, which is enough money to sponsor five campers, Doran said.
Doran said right now it is especially important to provide camperships to students to attend Gander Brook because the recession has hit New England hard, and many families are unable to afford church camp. The camperships are a way to enable kids to attend church camp who otherwise might not be able to go.
“In New England the church is so small that kids don’t get to see anybody else their age because they may be the only Christian in their school, and in their congregation they might be the only teenager, and so they come from six or seven states around Maine to come to camp there because then they can be with a whole cabin group their age who are Christians, and it’s like that’s when they get pumped up to live through the rest of the year,” Doran said.
Doran has been involved with Gander Brook since 1967, when she started serving there as a camp counselor. In recent years she has taught craft lessons for the campers.
Shawn Daggett, director for the Center for World Mission, said he was touched as a camper by the Dorans’ involvement. Daggett attended Gander Brook as a boy and has directed the camp with his wife for the last seven years. Daggett said Gander Brook has played a key role in the spiritual life of many kids.
“More eternal good is done in less time at a Christian camp than anywhere else I know,” Daggett said.
