A trail she didn’t have to walk alone

Her daughter had been to summer camp for three years in a row, but last year Victoria Rueda didn’t know whether she wanted to let Viviana go back. The 14-year-old was fighting the eating disorder bulimia, and Rueda, a divorced mother of two who had been laid off in 2004 from her job as a title insurance agent, was hesitant to let the girl out of her control for that long.

“We talked about it and did research on how it could harm her body,” Rueda said. “She knew, but it was still a battle for her and a battle for me to help and have her stop.”

Wanting to give Viviana confidence and the benefit of the doubt, Rueda reluctantly decided to let her daughter depart for one week at UniCamp.

Nestled away near Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains, UniCamp, the official student charity of UCLA, welcomes an average of 165 low-income children and teenagers a week through the course of the summer.

Viviana participated in the Wilderness Adventures in Leadership and Learning (WALL) program, a seven-day session for campers ages 15 to 17. Growing close and bonding with the counselors and campers, she opened up about her problem.

“The counselors seemed to care about my eating disorder,” she said. “They wanted to help and they were there for me.”

As a participant in WALL, Viviana took a challenging four-day, 26-mile hike up San Gorgonio Mountain, which reaches an altitude of 11,500 feet.

“It’s a hard thing, but with the help of other people it’s a lot easier,” she said of overcoming her struggles -- both on the mountain and with bulimia.

Viviana, now 15 and healthy, is looking forward to another week at camp this summer to reconnect with her peers and trek another 26 miles.

Physically and emotionally difficult, the hike symbolizes “overcoming personal obstacles and challenges they [campers] may be facing in life,” UniCamp director Bradley Ostrander said. “It lets them know they can do whatever they set their minds to.”

Viviana’s mother was pleased too.

“I took a risk to let her go, [but] it worked out,” Rueda said, adding that she is thankful for the camp: “It’s helped Viviana build her self-confidence and grow as a person.”

With $1.8 million raised last year by the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign, approximately 8,000 children will go to camp in Southern California this summer.

The Summer Camp Campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a McCormick Foundation fund, which matches all donations at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax-deductible as permitted by law. Addresses will not be released or published. For more information, call (800) LA TIMES, Ext. 75771, or e-mail familyfund@latimes.com.

Mail donations using the attached form (do not send cash), donate by phone at (800) 518-3975 or donate online now at latimes.com/donate.

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juliette.funes@latimes.com

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Mail to: Los Angeles Times Fund Summer Camp Campaign P.O. Box 100324

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6/10/2009