BREWSTER – After a recent partnership and an influx of community support, the Brewster Flats Foundation is hoping to make a competitive bid for the Cape Cod Sea Camps property and potentially return camp services as soon as summer 2022.
Jim Fay, president and co-founder of the foundation, said that the nonprofit has recently gained the support of Hale, an organization also dedicated to providing educational and recreational opportunities outdoors.
After almost 100 years, the Sea Camps closed its doors last year.
The closure leaves two parcels up for acquisition, with the organizations offering to purchase the 6A parcel of the property based on a fair market valuation study conducted in June by engineering firm Stantec, Inc.
Fay said that he hopes that the community will rally to their cause and prevent the property from coming under the private ownership of a developer.
“That would be the greatest failure, not just for BFF and Hale, but for Brewster, Cape Cod and the global camp network. We need to avoid that failure, and in so doing we need to declare that we want something different,” said Fay.
The foundation has said it would bring nonprofit camp services to the area with a focus on accessibility.
Fay said that the property could also play host to other community ventures, including a coastal research center on campus and increased access to the Cape Cod Rail Trail and bay.
Fay said that support for the project is relying on pledges from volunteers, rather than actual donations, which means that if the effort were to fail, those who helped the effort would not lose any of the money they pledged.
“Any donor who might pledge one dollar or hundred thousand dollars will not need to give us a penny until they know that we have been successful in securing this property. It lets our donors and supporters pledge boldly the largest number that they can possibly muster without fear of losing a penny in the event that the sellers ultimately were to choose some other purchaser.”
Fay said that the goal of the foundation is to raise $10 million to secure the property, of which they have raised over $1.6 million.
More information on the foundation’s efforts can be found on their website.
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