Winter Updates

Anyone who has spent a summer at Chop Point knows about our car washes. Once a session, we choose some high traffic locals and wash the Maine grime off what a true Mainer would call a “cahhh”. The purpose of these car washes is to raise money for social service projects that Chop Point has been involved with.

If you are from way back, we raised money for “Widows of Bangladesh” which helped women and children find their way in a society where they were cast-offs. As time has progressed, we have opened “Campo Alegria” (Camp Happiness) in Nicaragua. We offer a camping experience, similar to Chop Point, free to poor children. Our car washes now help needy kids enjoy a break from their poverty and struggle-filled lives on the sunny shores of Lake Nicaragua. While there, kids are able to enjoy life as a child should, eat gigantic portions of nutritious food, and take part in activities that expand their minds. We play games, toss them screaming with laughter into the lake, and teach them science and English classes. We have daily chapel and their singing practically blows the roof off the buildings. Every $60 raised can send a child to camp for a week. We can send about 30 kids to camp with the money we raise with our car washes.

Chop Point School (with several camp alumni) just returned from Campo Alegria. We spent nearly three weeks there and had two, three-day camps. One group was from a school that we work with every year. The second group was from the city of Granada. These kids parents work in the city dump. They pick through the refuse to find items that can be sold for recycling. Many of the kids who came to our camp are destined to follow in their parents footsteps. So if you were on a carwash in the summer of 2010, you were a part of the fun you see these kids having. Thanks for your work, and we hope your prune fingers are back to normal.