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Dads of Castle Rock help build camp for children, young adults living with autism

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Posted at 3:55 PM, May 15, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-15 19:16:14-04

MONUMENT, Colo. - For months, Williams World of Autism has been working on building a camp for children and young adults living with autism with the help of a group of dads.

When the Dads of Castle Rock found out about the project the founders of Williams World of Autism were taking on, they offered to help.

"We came out on on a Sunday in December and took a look at the property because she wanted some swings built," said Casey Cryan, a member of the Dads of Castle Rock.

Although the plan was to just build a swing set, it quickly grew.

"Its turned into to a little bit more than that and it's turned out really well," said Cryan.

Along with a swing set, the group has now built two yurts, which will serve as classrooms for the children and young adults to learn different life skills and mingle with one another.

"They could learn how to make simple meals. They could learn how to balance a checkbook. They could learn actually how to do job skills," said Hannah Lofland, the founder of Williams World of Autism.

Lofland started Williams World of Autism in honor of her son, William, who lives with autism.

"My son was diagnosed 18-months-old with severe autism, seizure disorder, nonverbal," she said. "As William started to get older, we noticed there were less and less services for young adults. So we had to make our own services for him."

Soon, Lofland realized she wanted to help other families navigating similar situations to hers.

"We wanted to make a village so that they would be able to have a safe, secure, loving place," said Lofland.

The camp was supposed to open in March 2020, but because of the pandemic, they had to reschedule their opening day to August of this year.

While the Dads of Castle Rock came in to help with the building aspect of the camp, Lofland said they are still in need of volunteers willing to teach the children and young adults.

"We are always looking for people to help us to volunteer. We do need some expertise on farming and some animals, anything that anybody wants to do to make a difference, because, again, that's why it's Williams world village, because that's what it takes," she said.

If you'd like to volunteer your time and talents to the Williams World of Autism, you can get more information on their website.