For the past few years, a Berkshire-based nonprofit has been running summer camps geared toward adults with disabilities. It’s centered around Lake Ashmere, but last year, the group acquired what will soon be a new home base.
Members of the Ashmere Project tell WAMC those plans and more are coming into focus, thanks to volunteers and plenty of elbow grease.
Paving wheelchair accessible trails, tossing out rusted box springs and getting cabins up to code: that’s just some of the tasks volunteers have been tackling in Chesterfield over the last few weeks.
He and about two dozen volunteers gathered at the former Chesterfield Scout Reservation on Saturday, April 18, where the Ashmere Project has been making inroads.
Piles of debris, unsalvageable furniture and other remnants have been growing on the site, which was home to the scouts from 1937 to 2018.
More was tossed over the weekend, but amid sunny conditions, path paving, wheelchair ramp building and other jobs took precedent.
Since the end of last year, volunteers have been rehabbing several buildings the nonprofit inherited when it bought the nearly 200-acre former Boy Scout campground.
The progress is showing: a Girl Scout troop helped paint the new “Camp Chesterfield” sign off Sugar Hill Road, while Eagle Scouts are helping with walkways.
Ashmere Camp Ranger Jakob Palches says there’s a lot of potential in the site: it's spacious, has plenty of facilities and even sports a sizable pond. But whether it's plumbing, rerouting power or ensuring it's compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, a lot of work needs to done, especially given its hilly layout.
“We’re [over] 80 feet above our beach area at the main cabin, so we’re figuring out how to make this place less structurally-inaccessible,” he explained to WAMC amid a tour of the parcel. “[Addressing] that does involve moving buildings or rebuilding in sort of a tighter pocket, because the scouts were really spread out and we're trying to tighten [things] so for the next few years, we'll be using these trails we're building right now and make it work.”
The camp itself hasn’t been used much for scouting over the past few years. Its previous ownership ran “live action role playing” camps, or LARPs, and even hosted weddings up until about two years ago.
The property ended up on the foreclosure auction block in 2025 and after securing $1.4 million, the nonprofit was able to lock it down, with hopes to shift from the Hinsdale location its’ been renting since 2022.
The Ashmere Project’s mission: provide adults living with disabilities two-weeks’ worth of opportunities to hit a beach, take part in plays, cook or enrich themselves in any manner of ways Ashmere’s volunteers provide.
“This is a really exciting adventure: the more camps that we have for our friends with disabilities, the better,” explains Johanna Romero De Slavy, aka "Jojo," one of the project's leaders and board members. “The idea is … we have the community, but to build on it: include the community here, get more people involved and just get friends with and without disability together to have a summer adventure together. This summer, we’re shooting for two weeks - all of this work is to prep so we can start with two weeks, right?”
Throughout Saturday, Jojo could be heard leading a group of volunteers in converting mess hall tables once mounted to the building's walls. The structure itself seats about 200 and could be a hub for community events in the future, given that it has one of the area’s few commercial kitchens.
She says the Ashmere Project’s origins go back further than 2022, and to the other side of the state, when a number of Ashmere members were working similar retreats on Martha’s Vineyard at Camp Jabberwocky.
Jojo herself had been director for some 14 years at the camp when she says several staffers wanted to take a different approach and also head west.
She adds that camps like Ashmere and Jabberwocky wear many hats: giving opportunities to not just its campers, but also those who care for said campers yearround.
“The break that we give to families, the respite… the more camps to give breaks to these amazing parents who are taking care of individuals who need a break [the better],” the MSN, CRRN, GERO-BC and NPD-BC specialist says. “That's another big thing: let's give someone a break. Over my years, we've had [situations] where we were taking care of someone for a month, and their parents went somewhere to get married or had their honeymoon finally, because they got a break: that's another great thing about this.”
She says winterizing the cabins and providing services outside of the summer are priorities and future goals, as is building new cabins. Palches says, while there are about 20 buildings on the premises, plus latrines, not all of the structures are salvageable or cut-and-dry fixes.
For now, volunteers like Ian Blackmer are making the fixes and updates they can. Blackmer himself says he’s good with a saw and ended up being drafted for the wheelchair ramp and door frame team.
“I am cutting some boards … they're pressure-treated for… I don't know exactly what they're being used for, but they need to be square on both ends," he explained. "They needed somebody to operate a Skilsaw and I've got a little experience with that, so that's what I'm doing!”
He says he and his wife were looking for ways to give back locally, having recently moved to nearby Williamsburg. Also on the team was Bob Romero – not only a volunteer with carpentry experience, but a former Jabberwocky counselor who’s son, Miles, has attended Ashmere in the past, often loving the camp’s theatrical offerings.
“I think he likes being part of plays/theater productions, probably the most,” Romero explains. “He also has liked when he gets to be in parades, being in his power chair. Usually, the volunteer counselors figure out a way to make his power chair into a float and costume appropriately for whatever the theme is.”
He tells WAMC the scope of the work feels a bit overwhelming at times. Some buildings are in particularly rough shape while others, like the multi-story MaGee Lodge, are practically full-scale houses.
That said, it’s work he can get behind easily, especially when accessibility is on the line.
“More people need to understand that it's not a question of if you will be disabled, it’s a question of when you will be disabled and so, you ought to pay more attention to accessibility and that ADA-compliant does not necessarily mean accessible.”
Locals are also pitching in. Sarah Donley lives down the road from the camp and says she’s been happy to see the campground not just be revitalized, but, hopefully, soon be used to its fullest extent.
For now, it’s a matter of rolling up sleeves to make it happen. Setting an example, Donley brought her own backhoe Saturday.
“It’s really important to step up and become more involved in the community and help with these kind of nonprofit groups,” Donley tells WAMC. “They're doing a wonderful thing for people who maybe couldn't enjoy something like this on their own otherwise.”
Palches tells WAMC Chesterfield has been welcoming since the acquisition and that more volunteers are welcome. The camp ranger says the efforts will continue through the first week of June, and that those looking to help can register on the group’s website.
The nonprofit's also looking for qualified volunteers for this coming summer camp, which often serves around a hundred individuals with or without disabilities.
“We are also looking for folks to be here for our core programming. We’re a few volunteers shy for what would be the second week, though I think we would be open if somebody wanted to do the full-two weeks,” he said.
More information can be found on the Ashmere Project website and Facebook page.
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A shortened version of this piece ran on Tuesday, April 22, 2026.
