The children whose summer day camp plans disappeared when the Boys & Girls Club in Tarrytown shut down at the end of last month will have a local camp to attend after all. It took two villages, Westchester County, the state, a non-governmental agency and a group of dedicated supporters in a concerted effort to accomplish that goal.

The Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Summer Camps will open its doors to an estimated 115 of the children, mostly in its day camp for boys and girls in kindergarten through seventh grade. Camp fees for the former Club youngsters will be covered by tuition-free scholarships.

“They have done a tremendous job and we’re very grateful and appreciative,” said Gloria Cepin of Sleepy Hollow, whose 12-year-old and six-year-old children will attend the villages’ camp administered by Tarrytown’s Recreation Department. Her 17-year-old son, Anthony, had been employed by the Boys and Girls Club.

“We have a lack of affordable childcare in the village, and we have a great many children that need to be cared for after school, in the summer,” Cepin said while expressing concern about what will happen in the fall, and was hopeful that the Boys & Girls Club could be re-established.

The Club was closed down after an unexpected decision by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northern Westchester to withdraw financial support of the local group, ending its main conduit of funding, because of a cited decrease in donations.

Led by members of the former Boys & Girls Club Advisory Board, Westchester County and the two villages, along with the assistance of the Westchester Community Foundation, a solution was developed.

“There are a lot players in this and everybody’s come to the table and contributed, and each one’s cooperative effort enables us to provide the program,” said Michael Blau, Tarrytown’s Administrator. “Without this cooperation and funding sources outside the two villages, we would not have been able to provide this program.”

Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow both contribute to an existing camp scholarship fund for children who qualify for financial help. A $30,000 fund was established and each village withdraws from that total to provide camp tuition support for children from their villages. Whatever amount each village withdraws each year must be replenished by that village for the following year, according to Blau.

However, Blau said that Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow’s increase in costs for the former Boys & Girls Club camp attendees will not be “considerable.”

Westchester County Executive Andy Spano has redirected $50,000 received from the state, and originally designated for county’s parks, recreation and conservation, to the villages for the camp program. Equal matching funds would ordinarily come from the villages, but they have no money allocated for that purpose. Instead those funds will be raised by donations through private sources.

Money solicited by the former Advisory Board members will go into a special charitable fund, the Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow Children and Youth Fund, set up by the Westchester Community Foundation, specifically to benefit the summer camp program. However, the fund may continue to function to “determine the best means of meeting the needs of children and youth going forward,” according to the WCF Executive Director Catherine Marsh.

“The children who will benefit are from low income families, and these families depend on having a quality place for their children to be, and they have been left with no alternatives,” Marsh said. She said these families “need to know the children have definite places to go so the parents can go to work.”

All donations made through the WCF, a charitable organization, are tax deductible. Further information may be obtained from the Foundation by calling (914) 948-5166.

The Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Summer Camp has enlisted some former staff from the Boys & Girls Club to help deal with the additional camp enrollment, according to Joe Arduino, who heads Tarrytown’s Recreation Department and who administers the camp program.

Arduino said the camp will run “the same programs we have done for a number of years. I think this is going to work fine and the children from the Boys & Girls Club will acclimate themselves with the children who have been coming to our camp; they are community kids,” he said.

“This is an example of different segments of the community working together and I’m pleased to be part of it,” Arduino said.

“The Day Camp operates at the John Paulding School, and the additional children won’t be a problem,” camp director Mike McCoy said. “The majority of our time is spent outside. We can expand classrooms inside if it rains, and we also go on special trips.”

The day camp has had a staff of 35 counselors, lifeguards, a nurse and specialist teachers. A Tot camp at the Tappan Hill School for younger children, three to five, and a Sports Clinic, conducted at Losee and Pierson Parks, brought the total staff up to 55 persons, McCoy said.

The Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Summer Day Camp runs six weeks and begins July 6. Ordinarily residents pay $125 per week, and non-residents pay $150, with a $10 discount for each additional child from one family. A minimum two-week enrollment is required. The camp operates from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; however, early arrival beginning at 8 a.m. and extended day dismissal at 5 p.m. can be arranged for a small additional fee. For further information, call the Tarrytown Recreation Department at 914-631-8347.