About Us!

The Northern Berkshire Youth R.O.P.E.S. Summer Program provides a free week long summer camp, once in July and once in August, for more than 250 children in Northern Berkshire County. This program is staffed by police officers, firefighters, and teachers from participating cities and towns; Adams, Clarksburg, Cheshire, Lanesboro, North Adams, Pittsfield and Williamstown.

The DARE Summer Program began in North Adams in 1996 at the Historic Valley Campground at Windsor Lake. Originally there were four camps in Berkshire County, including Pittsfield, Central Berkshire, Southern Berkshire and Northern Berkshire. Police Officers from all the participating communities would work at each camp in the county. When the North Adams officers including, then Sergeant Dave Sacco and Officer’s Fran Maruco and Bill Baker saw what the other camp had at their facilities the three officers had an idea. The three North Adams officers decided they could build a low ropes course at Windsor Lake. Through their own ingenuity and donations from the community that is how the first year began, with a Low Ropes challenge course, which was built by the facilitators of the program.

The beginning of the program included officer’s from Adams, Clarksburg, North Adams, Massachusetts State Police and the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office serving as facilitators. Students were eligible to attend after completing the Core Curriculum of the DARE Program at their school. The program was offered either in the 5th or 6th grade in the participating communities. During the day, team building through games, low ropes elements, a daily DARE lesson and demonstrations by area police departments filled the schedule. The demonstrations included the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad, K-9, Dive Team, and STOP Team.

During the first years the program was administered by Berkshire District Attorney Gerard Downing’s Office. Funds for the program were provided by the Massachusetts Governors Alliance Against Drugs program. This program funded all DARE Summer programs throughout Massachusetts. The funds paid for t-shirts, snacks and meals for all the campers. In 2002, because of the economy, the Governors Alliance Against Drugs office in Massachusetts was eliminated from the state budget with that, so was the money for the DARE Summer Program. That meant that cities and towns across Massachusetts would have to find a way to fund their own program through other sources or discontinue their programs. For the Northern Berkshire program, discontinuing the program was not the answer.

In March of 2002, North Adams Superintendent of Schools James Montepare announced that he had secured an $18,000.00 grant to build a high ropes challenge course. This challenge course would be included in the DARE Summer Program. This came at a great time because North Adams Commissioner of Public Safety E. John Morocco saw this as a great time to not only expand the course, but for also the Northern Berkshire course to take on its own identity.

With the Governors Alliance Against Drugs no longer funding the program, many programs stopped. In Northern Berkshire, we simply could not. In the Spring of 2002, Bob LeClair, a seventh grade social studies teacher at Conte Middle School and new facilitator has a contest for his seventh grade students, name the new program. Two of his classes combined for what became synonymous with not only what the program is about but what it represents and teaches; R.O.P.E.S. - Respecting Other People Encouraging Self-Esteem.

With a name came a new beginning. We now had low and high ropes elements, the games and demonstrations were reduced. With the new high ropes elements we saw kids “Fly” for the first time on the 250 foot Zip-Line. We saw them overcome their fear and take that Leap of Faith from 38 feet up. We also saw a rise in the number of Mentors that year. Mentors are students who could return to the camp after completing a year as camper. They are given increased responsibility at the camp. These numbers of Mentors grew and grew each year. The elimination of the state grants did not deter anyone; it seemed to make everyone work harder. Commissioner Morocco worked magic as he secured federal and state grants aimed at juveniles, through prevention of crime and truancy.

The first year of the high ropes was exciting. The program saw an increase in facilitators come to the program including more teachers from the North Adams Schools. Superintendent Montepare, already a huge asset and advocate of the DARE program was able to secure grants for teachers to come to the program during the summer, once finding again another bridge between the teacher and student. We also added a few communities and “re-drew” the idea of the Northern Berkshire/Central Berkshire border. The Central Berkshire Dare Summer Program was eliminated by those participating towns. That left Lanesboro Police Officer Jim Rathbun with no place for his students, which included Lanesboro, Hancock and some from Pittsfield, to go for the summer. That didn’t last for long and soon Lanesboro became part of Northern Berkshire and the ROPES Program.

Since 2002 it has been a great time for the camp. In 2008, the staff built a new element themselves. Mentor Mountain/Indiana Jones Bridge debuted at the July of 2008 camp. This element was build for a cost of less than $5,000. The estimate to build this element was more than $35,000. The business community is to thank for the opportunity to provide for the camp and most of all Greenberg’s, Riverbend Builder’s, Stanley’s Lumber, and Dan Burke Electric.

With all the accomplishments of the each and every camper, we have had some minor set backs, but only until we realize how strong the community supports this program. In the summer of 2008 we learned that the federal and state grants Commissioner Morocco secured were now being eliminated from both budgets. That left the program without any funds to operate. Immediately, ROPES facilitators and the community stepped up. In October of 2008, an idea was hatched. Erik Thomas and Dave Sacco thought of having a motorcycle ride to benefit the ROPES. Immediately members of the community including A.J. Thibert of Lick’s Cycles, Rick Walden, Steve Randall and Mike and Wendy Dilego came on board to help. In October of 2008, the first ROPES Ride kicked off with more than 40 riders.

In June of 2009 the 1st Annual Golf Tournament had 14 teams playing at the North Adams Country Club. In October of 2009 the 2nd annual ROPES Ride kicked off with a pancake breakfast, motorcycle ride then a family fun day on Main Street in North Adams. The family fun day included a bouncy bounce, motorcycle and car show, Jack’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, Cop Donut Eating Contest and raffles and Chinese auctions. The day was a huge success even with the rain.

Since our first camp and up to today our camp is all about having fun. Although the campers might not know it, they are learning life lessons with each activity they encounter. During the 2009 camp we had our 3,000th camper participate. Now we are shooting for our 5,000th.

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