Caring for the Homeless
I congratulate reporter Robert S. Weiss for his heart-touching piece on the Urban Campground children (Metro, Aug. 17) and the volunteers who offer them day camp. The photo of the bright-eyed child proudly clad in her day camp T-shirt is a rejoinder to us all.
No sensitive person could read this article in its entirety and remain unmoved. Details of the children’s day-to-day struggle: being afraid to go to the camp bathrooms alone, having their toys and clothes stolen and being the targets of lewd behavior were sad indeed. It is easy to see how hopelessness could become ingrained in these youngsters from an early age.
Thank goodness for the kind efforts of groups like the Fred Jordan Mission and volunteers like Willie Jordan and Walter Contreras. By providing day camp in a clean, attractive environment for these children, they are doing more good than they know. The simple gratitude on the part of the children for a small breakfast, crayons and a private shower brought tears to my eyes. Surely such niceties shouldn’t be rare luxuries for an American child.
In the same Times edition, is a story of another couple, Peter Holm and Joan Collins (View Section), whose goals in life are strikingly dissimilar from those of Willie Jordan and Walter Contreras. Quoting Holm’s own offensive, ostentatious account, the article stated the couple stayed at “the most exclusive and expensive hotels, including the Ritz in Paris, where a three-month stay in a six-room suite added up to a $200,000 bill. Four or five nights a week, they could be seen dining out at places where an average dinner cost $100 per person. They ate Russian caviar and smoked salmon, sipped vintage wines . . .” and so on and so on. What a stark contrast to the life styles of the urban camp dwellers!
The Times quoted Contreras as saying, “I feel that I bring the kids some hope. That’s what drives me along each day. Oh, if only I had money. These kids need so much.”
If only he did. It’s a sad fact of life that so many wealthy people in this country close their eyes to the plight of their fellow man, and that often those with the least material possessions are the ones most generous in spirit.
LAURA G. BROWN
Los Angeles
