Special needs camp could face cash issues
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Monday, April 27, 2009 - 12:05pm
While it is the only camp in the area that exclusively serves people with special needs, the John J. Nerden Camp in Middlefield could experience serious financial difficulties if it loses its funding from municipalities.
In the face of their own budget issues, Cheshire Town Manager Michael A. Milone has recommended eliminating the town’s $10,000 contribution to the camp and Meriden City Manager Lawrence J. Kendzior has recommended eliminating the city’s contribution, which was $46,586 last year. Those are serious reductions for an organization that runs on a $110,000 budget.
“This is certainly an issue we’re going to have to address,” said Laurie Nerden Russell, president of the Board of Directors for the camp. “It was such a surprise to us because Meriden has been a big supporter of camp since day one.”
The summer camp serves special needs children and adults in surrounding communities. It provides all the arts and crafts programs of a regular summer camp, but provides the specialized staff that can attend to special needs children.
According to Meriden resident Bob Williams, who has a special needs grandson who does not attend the camp, parents with special needs children don’t have the luxury of being able to drop their kids off at the mall or at the local YMCA during the summer. Russell agrees.
“The population we serve deserves the same opportunities of programming as non-disabled peers,” she said. “When towns don’t honor requests, the campers are denied access to what we feel is their right.” She also believes it is more cost effective to provide a regional program then for individual towns to establish their own.
Russell said if the camp doesn’t receive funding this year, she’s not sure how it will proceed. She suggested that one option might be that the camp wont be able to accept as many campers, which she say the camp has never had to do before. Another option is charging parents for the service, said camp Director Kelly Sheppard. But camp leaders are trying to avoid that measure, she said, since it goes against the camp’s mission of providing the service at no cost to families.
“If they reduce the funding for next year, it’s going to put us in unchartered waters,” she said. Nerden “bills” municipalities for the number of campers it serves, but towns and cities do not actually contract with the camp and are free to pay what they like.
Williams, who has written to city councilors and other officials asking them to support the camp and restore funding to Nerden, has scheduled a charity golf tournament to benefit the camp. The tournament will be held July 17, at 12:30 p.m. at the Tradition Golf Course in Wallingford at a cost of $125 a player. Williams can be reached at (203) 630-3451 for more information.
Russell said she is going to remain optimistic. “We’ve been faced with adversities in the past and we’ve always come through. I have to think we’ll come through this budget process okay because of who we are and what we do.”
Meriden City Councilor Anthony D. Tomassetti said he wants to find some way to continue providing assistance to Nerden to help out the campers who cannot lobby for themselves. He suggested donating a portion of the revenues from a future billboard on city property to the camp. City officials are looking at constructing a billboard on the city-owned 311 Murdock Ave. property to generate additional income, but they have not decided where the money should go.
“The camp has to be supported in major way from a community-sense,” said the camp’s attorney Thomas Weaver. “It is a dominant feature in Middlefield, and the beautiful lake and pristine property it’s on is important for the character of the place.”
Camp Nerden was originally a gift of land from the Zemel family over 40 years ago. All building were built with voluntary contributions of money, time and materials from local service clubs and families, said Weaver. There was also a contribution from the Kennedy/Shriver family at the camp’s inception as seed money to groups starting camp programs for the intellectually disabled. The camp was originally called The Regional Training Center Camp but was later changed to honor Russell’s father, John Nerden, who was instrumental in the founding of the camp.
Today, the camp is supported by local civic clubs, including 11 from Meriden alone, that go toward program expansion, capital improvements, and “dirty hands projects” like painting, residing and electrical work. According to Russell, the camp is supported by volunteers, and everything at the camp has been donated.
