AUBURN — The Auburn-Lewiston Rotary Breakfast Club is awarding $5,500 toward development of the YMCA’s outdoor education center.

The gift will be used for construction of an open-air pavilion and trail kiosk at the 93-acre YMCA Outdoor Education & Learning Center, located along Stetson and River roads.

Rotary president Lee Upton formally presented the gift to YMCA CEO Steve Wallace and staffers Wil Libby and Victoria Stanton at the club’s weekly breakfast meeting on June 1.

The center is being developed for hiking and fitness activities, summer camp and a variety of year-round outdoor education workshops for all ages. Work began on the property last spring with the construction of rudimentary trails along Bobbin Mill Brook. Current plans call for the addition of outdoor classrooms and fields, a wheelchair-accessible trail and community gardens. All construction will be to state park standards, with minimal environmental impact.

“The outpouring of support from funders and community partners like the Rotary Club has been overwhelming. When we talk to families and outdoor enthusiasts, the reaction is always the same: ‘We need spaces like this in L-A for our kids and families,’” Wallace said.

Volunteers, foundations and individual donors have already pledged more than $200,000 in cash and in-kind contributions. Adding further momentum to the project, the Y has confirmed its partnership with the Maine National Guard’s Innovative Readiness Training Program, which will construct a 40-car lot and potentially a grass field this summer.

The Y is seeking an additional $200,000 to complete the current phase of development, including naming rights for pavilions and fields. The next phase will begin in 2018.

The center is currently the site of several outdoor youth activities through the Y’s summer camp programs. The property will be fully accessible to the public this fall.