ForeverYoung treehouses never get old Burlington non-profit goes out on a limb for the disabled

Author: Andrea Glaessner

Treehouses are a childhood staple. As a kid, there is something liberating about having your own exclusive dwelling high up in the trees, far away from parents, chores and homework. But unlike playing with Barbie in high school, remaining fond of the taste of Play-Doh or sleeping with a baby blanket well into your college years, we do not necessarily have to let go of the treehouse. Thanks to ForeverYoung Treehouses based in Burlington, Vt., we can revisit those treehouse memories, and even make some new ones.

ForeverYoung Treehouses is a non-profit organization which builds "inclusive" treehouses that are accessible for all people no matter how young, old or disabled. The idea for the company came about one afternoon as the founders - financial adviser Bill Allen and his friend Dr. Phil Trabulsy - were lounging in the backyard thinking how nice it would be to take their get together to a whole new level: namely, up in a tree. So the two built a treehouse in Dr. Trabulsy's backyard just to hang out and have a beer in the trees.

Allen and Trabulsy, both board members of the Make a Wish Foundation, are particularly sensitive to the needs of children with disabilities and chronic illnesses. Inspired by their afternoon of hanging out in Trabulsy's new adult treehouse, Allen started to research treehouses and began to wonder whether wheelchair-bound children and adults felt they had missed out on the joys of fort building. Allen soon started connecting the dots, and the two friends embarked on a mission to make their vision a reality.

The company was formed in 2000 and has already received media attention from People Magazine, The LA Times, Newsweek and the Today Show, to name a few. They have already completed the construction of eight accessible treehouses: four in Vermont, one in Ashford, Conn., one in Greenfield, N.H., one in Watertown, Wis., one in Torrens, Calif. and one in Austin, Texas. According to the Web site, ForeverYoung Treehouses plans to have "a treehouse in every state by 2008."

Thus far, the majority of their treehouses were built for institutions and charitable organizations involved in caring for as well as supporting the rights of people with disabilities. According to Allen, "The company only builds treehouses for non-profit organizations. The [non-profit organizations] don't have to directly serve people with disabilities, but they have to be interested in inclusion."

The company is determined not to lose sight of its overarching goal of empowering people with disabilities. As explained on the Web site, "While accessible treehouses provide a memorable experience for everyone, we focus on treehouse construction for children and young adults with special needs who are routinely confronted with barriers to fun and play in their daily lives. An accessible treehouse removes these obstacles, bringing people of all abilities together and closer to nature."

The company truly exemplifies the constructive potential of grassroots organization. "[ForeverYoung Treehouses] is really kind of a grassroots thing where people decide they want a treehouse and they contact us, explained Allen. A lot of the work around here is getting the community involved and engaged in disability issues."

The company has been hugely successful, but not without initial struggles of figuring out how to build an accessible treehouse. According to Allen, building the large-scale and complex structures is fairly complicated and necessitates the assistance of staff foremen and carpenters, his organization still relies heavily on the support of volunteers within the community. In fact, Allen recognizes the positive results of volunteering at ForeverYoung Treehouses, both for the company and the volunteer. "For a project to be successful it has to get new people involved in disability issues yet their involvement can have a big impact in their life as well," Allen explained.

The company also refutes the myth that handicap-accessible facilities are unattractive or cumbersome from a design standpoint. Recently, ForeverYoung Treehouses teamed up with a studio class at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to complete the construction of a public, accessible treehouse at Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, R.I. Enrique Lomnitz, a student in the class, describes the project as "an accessible treehouse, built according to the philosophy of inclusive or universal design. It's about giving people with disabilities the experience of a place they couldn't otherwise access."

The class contacted ForeverYoung Treehouses, seeking assistance from an orgazniation with experience in such projects. The company also benefited from this collaboration, gaining insight from the design students and tapping their creativity to improve the appearance and design for future treehouses.

According to Lomnitz, the construction of an accessible treehouse is problematic. "It's really a challenge; what makes a treehouse exciting is the feeling of being in an exclusive little box up high in a tree and when you have an inclusive treehouse, it doesn't give you that same treehouse experience."

Lomnitz chooses to associate the public facility as a park rather than a treehouse. He explains that, "the treehouse functions more like a park than a treehouse because it can't give the same experience that going into a little furnished space with your own things, like a treehouse gives you," he explained. Instead of building one accessible treehouse, the RISD students have a plan to build a series of accessible treehouses connected by handicap ramp, achieving more of a "park feel" as opposed to a "treehouse experience," which, according to Lomnitz, is difficult to replicate in an accessible treehouse structure.

Middlebury College students may also have an opportunity to become involved with ForeverYoung Treehouses. According to Allen, "there are possibilities for summer internships, but Middlebury students could start by working on trying to get a treehouse at the College." He explained that treehouses are not just a place for people with disabilities. Rather, he tends to view the accessible treehouses as great gathering places that do not exclude people with disabilities. "You could even have a board of directors meeting at a treehouse on campus," he said. Allen suggests that the treehouse would be a good starting point for learning about the issues related to people with disabilities, and could be a good bridge to the community in Middlebury.

"We have as many 75-year-old women hanging out at the treehouse in Burlington as ten-year-old kids - it's a multigenerational experience," noted Allen.