POLAND — Tom Poulin knows when his menu works.
“If it’s loud, I didn’t do my job,” said Poulin, an Auburn police officer and a chef. When his cooking is at its best, every one of Camp POSTCARD’s 150 teen and pre-teen campers hush.
“Last night, you could have heard a pin drop in here,” said Poulin, looking toward the wide, log hall where the kids and their counselors gather for meals. “They’re too busy eating.”
And this year, the kids are eating healthier.
The reason is a program called,” Fit, Fed and Fun for Life,” sponsored by the National Recreation Foundation.
Poulin and his kitchen team are introducing kids to foods that are easily found in most grocery stores but are seen on too few dinner tables. Such foods as hummus, kiwi and various soy products are healthier, have less fat than alternatives and can be just as tasty.
But there’s a sneaky side, too.
Poulin has been replacing some of the camp’s summer staples with healthy substitutes. Kids find out when the meal’s done.
“It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission,” he said.
All of this work is aimed at helping fifth- and sixth-graders from around Maine who may be at risk of getting in trouble or merely in need of a special week at a camp.
Camp POSTCARD — which stands for Police Officers Striving to Create and Reinforce Dreams — was created 17 years ago with help from the Maine State Sheriff’s Association, the DARE program and Volunteers of America.
Rather than work from a particular camp, the group rents a camp for a week. For the first time, the coalition of groups took over Agassiz Village’s 400-acre complex overlooking Lake Thompson in Poland.
On Wednesday, the kids were entertained by groups from several sheriff’s and police departments. When they broke for a lunch of burgers, hot dogs and baked chicken, several law enforcement leaders, including Sheriff Guy Desjardins from Androscoggin County, helped serve.
But the hard work had begun hours earlier.
During the weeklong event, the kitchen crew works exhausting 18-hour days that begin at 3 a.m.
“All we do is wake up, throw our clothes on and we’re at work,” said Poulin, who trained as a chef at the Culinary Institute of America. He owned Bagels and Things in Auburn until he sold the restaurant to change careers.
He currently serves as a police officer, but his passion for cooking remains. Poulin teaches cooking at local schools, and this is his fifth year running the food program at Camp POSTCARD.
His kitchen team includes a former student, Chelsy Montminy of Auburn, and the food service director of the Androscoggin County Jail, Tom Juray.
On Wednesday, Poulin, who describes his age as “57 and a half,” circulated through the crowded lunchtime hall, making sure servers had everything they needed and happily chatting with the kids.
He wore a clashing, tie-dyed shirt-and-pants ensemble that seemed to dare people to criticize him.
“There isn’t a color I don’t have on,” he said.
The man who has served as a DARE officer in Auburn schools and a camp counselor here for 11 years, found a lesson in the eye-straining combo.
“I tell kids not to let people laugh at them, no matter what they’re wearing,” he said.
He seems unworried that kids would complain about the healthy food.
One sly concoction found him making shepherd’s pie with ground turkey instead of ground beef and cauliflower mixed with mashed potato. They were layered with fresh-off-the-cob corn.
No one complained.
“They went through 28 pans of shepherd’s pie,” he said. “We’re sneaking all kinds of vegetables into the meals.”
Of course, there are guilty pleasures here, too.
His desserts include a mixture of marshmallow, Rice Krispies, peanuts, chocolate and chocolate chips he calls Camp POSTCARD fudge.
“These kids eat,” Poulin said. “They eat well.”
dhartill@sunjournal.com
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- Tom Poulin, school resource officer for the Auburn Police Department, and Kailla Pearl of Boston prepare lunch for 150 campers during Camp Postcard at Agassiz Village in Poland on Wednesday. Poulin has been involved with the camp for more than 15 years.
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- Healthy choices are being offered during the “Fit, Fed and Fun for Life” nutrition program during Camp POSTCARD at Agassiz Village in Poland.
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