Paul Newman’s camp for sick kids rises from the ashes

ASHFORD, CONN. >> Amarey Brookshire was devastated when she heard about the fire at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for seriously ill children — her camp.

The February 2021 blaze destroyed much of the retreat in the woods of eastern Connecticut, which was founded by the late actor Paul Newman in 1988 to give children with devastating medical conditions a place to, as he said, “raise a little hell.”

The blaze burned the center of the camp, which had been made to look like an Old West town and housed the woodworking shop, the arts and crafts area, the camp store, and an educational kitchen. Fire investigators determined it was not arson but could not pinpoint a cause.

Amarey, now 13, said she was in the hospital when her mom told her the news.

“She told me that it was the arts and crafts and the wood shop area, so I was really sad because I love doing wood shop and like the arts and crafts,” she said. “I was really sad.”

Amarey, who has sickle cell disease, thought about friends she made at camp who were going through similar health struggles. She thought of the joy she felt catching her first fish, zip lining, swimming in a heated pool without worrying that cold water would trigger a health crisis, and the feeling of accomplishment after completing a box in the wood shop.

“We thought of how amazing that area of camp was, because when you walk in, you immediately feel life,” said Amarey’s mother, Amarilis Frajul. “Like when you’re in the wood shop area and you see all the marks on the tables, the holes from people before us. You go into arts and crafts, you see the paint, the glitter, the smell, and you know that it’s been used, you know, so many lives have been there. And to know that there have been so many memories created, and it was gone like that. That was hard.”

But the camp wasn’t closed. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and last summer, tents housed the creative center.

And money came pouring in, from 4,500 donors. The Travelers insurance company and the Travelers Championship golf tournament gave a combined gift of $1 million. The Newman’s Own Foundation donated an additional $1 million. And on Tuesday, the new $4.5 million, 11,000-square-foot creative complex opens. It’s a single building, made to look like several structures, with twice the space and an open-floor design. The wheelchair entrances are no longer separate, so nobody feels excluded.