MONTREAL — “It was meant to be,” says Rabbi Menachem Leifer. The founder of the Yaldei Developmental Centre in Montreal for children with developmental challenges, Rabbi Leifer was describing what had to have been divine intervention in the fate of the centre’s summer camp, Camp Yaldei. For the last three summers, it has not had a real home.

Camp Yaldei director Rabbi Yisroel Schwab is seen at the camp in 2005.

The miracle is that Camp Yaldei – the Jewish community’s only summer facility for children with special needs – not only has a new place to call home, but at 200 acres, it’s some 15 times the size of its last real home in 2005, not far from Camp B’nai Brith in Lantier.

The new location is at the site of Camp Chapleau, a century-old facility for underprivileged children situated in North Wentworth, reachable off rue Principale by taking the Saint-Sauveur exit from the Laurentian Autoroute.

For 101 years, Camp Chapleau was owned by Montreal’s Old Brewery Mission homeless shelter. It was forced to shut down in October 2007 because of increasing financial losses.

The availability of the site was in a newspaper ad noticed by Michael Gurman, who, only a day or two after joining Yaldei as an administrator, brought it to Rabbi Leifer’s attention

Exactly one year later, Old Brewery Mission officials chose Yaldei over all other bidders to take over part of the 1,600-acre site.

“It seemed to them to be just the right fit,” Rabbi Leifer said.

Although the purchase price offered was a relevant factor, Rabbi Leifer and Yaldei camp volunteer Yaniv Loran agreed that it was not the overriding consideration. They believe it was equally important that Camp Chapleau officials seemed to appreciate how Camp Yaldei serves children with special needs and their families.

The children’s diagnoses include such disorders as autism and Down syndrome, among others.

For Rabbi Leifer, the acquisition of the Chapleau site came as much-needed relief after several years of struggling with sites that were a fraction of what was needed.

In 2003 and 2004, its first two years, Camp Yaldei consisted of only one large cabin at the campsite of Camp Parde Chanah on Route 117.

Rabbi Leifer said although Camp Yaldei had an option to buy the Lantier facility it moved to and rented in 2005, the site  – a former drug rehabilitation facility – could not get the necessary rezoning.

That forced Camp Yaldei to operate minimally over the next two summers. In 2006 and 2007, it relocated to the Trout Lake area near Ste. Agathe, and last year, it operated out of Ste. Agathe’s Beis Moishe Chaim seminary run by Chana Carlebach, wife of Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach of the town’s House of Israel Congregation.

“There were maybe 15 to 20 kids, so it was a very small program for children,” Rabbi Leifer said. “It was very, very frustrating.”

Now, finally, the camp has the space and the clean, sophisticated facilities that will give it almost unlimited potential, he said. As usual, Camp Yaldei is offering two three-week sessions between the end of June and mid-August, and in its first year at its new home, it will probably accommodate some 40 kids aged five and up.

Rabbi Leifer anticipates accommodating more children every year – eventually up to 200 – and becoming a truly “state-of-the-art” facility.

In addition, Camp Yaldei’s director, Rabbi Yisroel Schwab, is returning, as are some head staffers, including Aliza Koval, who has served as Rabbi Schwab’s assistant director and holds a master’s degree in special education.

Rabbi Leifer emphasized that as usual, many of the responsibilities at the camp will be carried out by dedicated volunteers.

“The counsellor-child ratio remains one to one,” Rabbi Leifer said.

In addition to traditional camp activities such as swimming, boating and sports, the children also continue, as much as possible, to receive some speech and occupational therapy.

The camp, Rabbi Leifer said, also provides much-needed respite for campers’ families, many of whom must give virtually constant attention to their children.

“The families are ecstatic,” he said.

For more details on Camp Yaldei, call 514-278-3666.