State sen. John Velis, state Rep. Kelly Pease and Mayor Michael McCabe gathered with YMCA Board members, administrators and campers for the check presentation.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
WESTFIELD — State Sen. John C. Velis gathered Representative Kelly Pease, Mayor Michael McCabe, members of the Westfield YMCA Board of Directors, administration and campers at Camp Shepard on Aug. 19 to present a check for $100,000 in state funding for infrastructure improvements at the camp.
The funding was included in the recent fiscal year 2027 state budget that was passed by the Senate and the House and signed into law in July.
Velis said his “partners in funding,” Pease and McCabe, were an important part of the announcement, as was YMCA Director Andrea Allard, who did such a good job of talking about the needs at the camp.
“One of the committees I chair is Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery,” Velis said, and he wanted to talk about mental health. Putting his arms out to indicate the surroundings, he added, “Kids are exposed to being outside, away from cellphones, being in nature.”
Velis said he knew how important the camp is to the community by asking the staff how long they’d been involved; many said 12 to 15 years or more.
“Look around. There are beautiful things happening,” Velis said.
Allard thanked Velis and said the funds will go toward tearing down the existing bathhouse and building a new office, bathhouse and connecting pavilion.
Allard said she herself started at Camp Shepard at age 8; Camp Director Liam Barrett started at age 11; and Program Operations Director Melissa Whitney started at age 5. Christian Carey, architect for the project, said he first started going to Camp Shepard at age 8.
Pease said it was a pleasure for him to represent Westfield and Southampton and to partner with Sen. Velis in the legislature to build the facility.
