Hale Reservation is set to complete a $2 million renovation and addition to its Trading Post, which will become the home to YouthCare - a day camp for children with Asperger's syndrome and other autistic disorders.
Crews yesterday were putting the finishing touches on a large new cabin in the woods at the 11,000-acre reservation.
Eric Arnold, Hale Reservation executive director, expects the project to be finished within a week. More than three quarters of the building has already been paid for by donations, Arnold said.
The cabin will be the new home of the Massachusetts General Hospital's YouthCare a seven-week summer day camp which has been calling Hale home for 30 years.
In Hale's early history, visitors would stop by the Trading Post for provisions for weekend camping trips. In its 90th year, reservation officials decided to revamp the building to accommodate YouthCare.
YouthCare staffers were able to offer input during the construction process, said Paula McLaughlin, Hale's director of development.
"It's not just a building that looks pretty," she said. It is constructed, in part, to help children with autism deal with spatial and tactile challenges.
Hale reservation is one of the biggest day camps in America, McLaughlin said. It hosts nine separate camps on its grounds, serving more than 2,000 children.
The YouthCare program looks to give kids struggling with autism the chance to have a traditional summer camp experience, Arnold said.
Participants can use the large rope course (which has doubled in size), go swimming or boating in Noanet Pond, hike or bike on the reservation's 20 miles of trails, observe wildlife from deer to fisher cats, visit the butterfly garden or apple orchard, or take part in environmental education courses.
Hale welcomes children from 70 different communities, said Arnold, giving autistic campers a chance to socialize. He said the program gives children with behavioral challenges the ability to interact with their peers and develop important social skills.
Touring the facility in a golf cart just after the storm, McLaughlin pointed out staffers and children strolling the roads, taking part in team building exercises, playing catch, beach volleyball, mini-golf and dodgeball.
"The rain doesn't even get to the kids at all," McLaughlin said.
"They're resilient," Arnold added with a laugh. He said they were just happy being outside, considering the alternative of spending days in cities like Dorchester and Roxbury. "Here it's just a little bit better."
