Every year, the Mission partners with organizations across Maine and beyond to provide services, education, and more to communities on Maineʼs islands and in the Downeast region. The Mission recently chatted with Elizabeth (Liz) Charles McGough, the Director of Pilgrim Lodge in West Gardiner about their connection with the Mission.
What is your name? What organization do you represent?
My name is Elizabeth Charles McGough and I’m the Director of Pilgrim Lodge. Pilgrim Lodge is the Outdoor Ministries program of The Maine Conference United Church of Christ. In other words, we’re a summer camp program and retreat facility here in West Gardiner, right on Lake Cobbosseecontee. We get to spend all summer long providing purposeful, fun retreat and camp programming for youth, families, and adults.
Your gift to the Maine Seacoast Mission makes you part of all we do.
Aside from what you would expect from a traditional summer camp, we offer faith based programming that invites people from around the state and beyond to come together in a beautiful, natural environment. I like sharing that the average age of a Pilgrim Lodge camper is 33 years old! We are more than just a summer camp for kids. We welcome families with children and babies all the way up to grandparents with their grandchildren who want to make memories and share time together.
How long has the Mission been working with Pilgrim Lodge? How has the partnership evolved over the years?
Pilgrim Lodge and Maine Seacoast Mission have a long relationship of connection. Most recently, Pilgrim Lodge hosted the Mission last summer and Chief Development Off icer Erica Hutchinson shared the organization’s programs with our campers. In the early years when the Mission was based in Bar Harbor, there was a goal to send ministers out to the islands. One Mission minister, Reverend Stan Haskell, was also one of the earliest leaders of Pilgrim Lodge. Another family with ties to both Pilgrim Lodge and the Mission is the Stillman family. Reverend David Stillman was the chair of Pilgrim Lodge’s Outdoor Ministries Committee, and he also was a minister based out of North Haven and involved with Island Outreach. Together with his wife, Dottie Kay Stillman, they conducted a Pilgrim Lodge program geared toward high school youth with the Mission. The Stillman’s wove the best of Pilgrim Lodge programming into the Mission’s island-based programming and delivered that to islands via the Sunbeam.
Can you share a little bit about how Pilgrim Lodge and campers have supported the Mission?
Each summer at Pilgrim Lodge, we have what we call our “summer mission program.” In the summer of 2024, we were honored to reconnect with the Mission and featured the organization as our summer mission recipient. Through this connection, Erica visited camp once a week to talk to our campers about the Mission’s work and the connection to Maine islands. She demonstrated why it is so valuable and important to get involved with and support the work of the Mission. It was great for our campers to hear how the Mission tailors programming to serve the needs of Downeast residents and islanders. At Pilgrim Lodge, we are thinking about how we as humans connect with our neighbors in the world beyond camp. We want to really listen and understand how we can support them. The Mission really role models for us so beautifully. The organization understands how relationships happen in partnership and in relationship with the people that you serve.
Is there a memorable moment from the work together that has stood out to you?
One really special moment happened when Erica visited to talk to our campers. During the talk, an adult camper stood up and shared that she had been the recipient of a Mission scholarship. It drives home the impact of the Mission’s work when you find people impacted by an organization’s work moving about in the world years later. It was also special to thank the Mission for the work it does, celebrate what we do together, and look to partner more in the future.
