Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp announces rebuilding plan
Devastated by a fire in February, camp rehabilitation to cost nearly $4 million
Six months after a huge blaze destroyed several buildings, the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp announced a nearly $4 million rebuilding plan Wednesday.
“It’ll be an updated and expanded program facility. It will give a new home to the beloved program areas that were lost; arts and crafts, wood shop and cooking zone program areas. But, we are going to embrace the latest thinking in universal design to make it a fully accessible and as inclusive space as possible,” Ryan Thompson, the camp’s chief communications officer, said.
The camp, based in Ashford and founded in 1988 by actor and Westport resident Paul Newman, provides free programs to seriously-ill children and their families each year, including a week long summer camp for children between the ages of 7 and 15 and the Hero’s Journey Program which teaches communication and teamwork.
Following the devastating fire in mid-february, over 4,500 donations, totaling around $1.7 million were raised to help the camp. Travelers and the Travelers Championship, as well as the Newman’s Own Foundation each donated $1 million to the cause.
Camp officials, alongside leaders from Travelers, the Travelers Championship and Newman’s Own Foundation gathered on site Tuesday to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new complex. Although officials don’t have a set timeline for when construction is set to begin, they’re hopeful it’ll be ready by next summer.
The construction will soon offer a new space dedicated for parents and caregivers, as well as a quiet sensory area for campers.
“We want to make sure that we have everything that we want it to be,” Thompson said.
“It was the community that brought us from a place of grief to gratitude,” Thompson said. “We got such an outpouring of messages and prayers and thoughts that really came out way. It was incredible, really incredible.”
The groundbreaking event Tuesday afternoon included a ceremony that included Miriam Nelson, the president and chief executive officer of Newman’s Own Foundation and Traveler’s Chairman and CEO Alan Schnitzer.
Among those who spoke at the ceremony was also Dannie Pink, a former counselor who reminisced about attending the camp at the age of 2, then 9-years-old before he eventually became a camp counselor.
“My first summer at camp was actually two days after I was discharged from the hospital after a very bad sickle-cell crisis,” Pink said. “My mother, as mother’s do, was protective and a bit hesitant on if she wanted to let me come. I never been out of her sight before that, but my hepatologists at the time tried to persuade her and let her know that it would be good for me, but not only was it good for me, it completely changed my life.”
Pink recalled the evolution of the “Discovery Zone,” into the “Cooking Zone” and growing eager to see the new changes. She also spoke about the friendships she made, and still maintains, from the camp and how it was responsible for some of her favorite memories.
“I love that I was blessed enough to come back as an adult as well and create that magic behind the scenes for other amazing kids that needed to come,” Pink said. “I’m sure it broke your hearts just as much as mine to see the news of the fire and all the damage it caused downtown, however, I’m a strong believer that everything happens for a reason.”
The cause of the fire remains unknown after the case was closed in March after “investigators were not able to identify the ignition source that caused the fire,” state police said at the time.
“There is no indication that the fire was intentionally set or has any criminal aspect associated,” they added.
The fire turned the camp’s woodworking shop, arts and crafts area, the camp store and the cooking zone to ashes before firefighters stopped the fire from reaching the iconic red dining hall.
Investigators interviewed numerous witnesses and examined the scene around the fire that night and the following day, but they were not able to identify what sparked the flames or find where it started “due to the catastrophic damage,” state police said in March.