East Lyme — The Miracle League of Southeastern Connecticut announced Tuesday that, after receiving bids this week, its plan to build a sports field for children with disabilities is expected to be completed by the start of summer.

That's a feat its executive director, David Putnam, says indicates the project is running at least six months ahead of schedule.

Having first unveiled the project two years ago, the Miracle League of Southeastern Connecticut detailed plans to build a multipurpose sports field behind Flanders Elementary School that would act as a space for children with physical and developmental challenges to play team sports such as baseball, lacrosse, soccer and flag football.

To do that, however, the Miracle League first needed to raise $550,000 to build the field — phase I of the project — then an additional $500,000 for the second phase, which includes building an accessible playscape and restrooms.

The goal, said Putnam, who is also the town's parks and recreation director, was to raise the entirety of the money through private donations, not taxes, and doing so for the first phase alone was expected to take two and a half to three years.

But with bids in hand Tuesday and a set schedule to build the field, Putnam said the project is running far ahead of schedule — an "incredible" sign, he explained, which shows how the surrounding community has come together to raise funds for the cause.

Putnam said that besides the various fundraising events and ideas that community members have pitched — such as trivia nights or creating the Niantic Bay IPA and donating proceeds from its sales — organizations from throughout the region, which have included Dominion, GEICO and the Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, as well as many others, also each have pitched in as much as $25,000 to $30,000 in donations. The Miracle League then hit its $550,000 goal on Dec. 6 after it raised $80,000 at its annual Playing for a Miracle event, which featured former Yankees baseball player John Flaherty as the keynote speaker.

Though Putnam could not yet detail what the bids look like, he said the four submitted to the Miracle League are within the proposed $550,000 budget to build the field.

“The whole community and region have been unbelievably supportive of the project,” Putnam said. “I think to see kids with disabilities get a chance to play and enjoy play hits home with a lot of people. There is nothing like this in our area. There isn’t a specific field for adaptive sports.”

The project will create the first Miracle League Field in the region, and the second in Connecticut after one was built in West Hartford in 2012. The East Lyme field is being designed by TO Design of New Britain and a contractor will be selected in coming weeks, Putnam said.

Putnam also has coordinated with the Board of Education to plan for the eight to 12 weeks needed to construct the field and has received all necessary permissions from the town. On Tuesday he said, “We are very encouraged the way the bids came in. We will definitely be starting construction early spring.”

After the first phase of the project is complete, Putnam said, the Miracle League will continue raising money for the second phase. The Parks and Recreation Department also soon will start organizing regional league teams for children with disabilities to play team sports on the field as soon as this coming summer and into next fall. Putnam said other events will be planned on the field, such as movie nights and trick-or-treating.

Despite the field needing to be replaced every 12 to 14 years because of its synthetic material, Putnam said the Miracle League intends to keep hosting fundraisers to save enough money for such replacements, which he said will cost about half the original price to install the field.

m.biekert@theday.com