OXNARD : Camp Helps Youths, Counselors

Marisela Cabral is earning money this summer shooting basketballs, making picture frames out of Popsicle sticks and pushing children on the swings in Oxnard.

“I like working with kids,” said Marisela, 15, a camp counselor at Oxnard’s Beck Park. “It’s better than sitting in an office working with yourself. It’s fun. You meet a lot of different types of children.”

Marisela is one of 230 low-income youths aged 14 to 21 who are making $4.25 an hour as part of the city of Oxnard’s Summer Youth Employment and Training Program.

Her arms and legs covered with glitter that caught the afternoon sun Thursday, Marisela said she gives her $300 paycheck every two weeks to her mother. The Santa Clara High School student has already spent about $200 on school books, and her earnings also will be used to pay tuition.

Marisela has six brothers and two sisters at home. She said the low-income children who attend the camp are like an extended family.

“A lot of the kids are like my brothers,” she said.

In addition to working as counselors during the seven-week program, youths from Oxnard and Port Hueneme have been painting street curbs, planting trees, helping city electricians and plumbers and doing other odd jobs in Oxnard. Their salaries are paid out of a $388,000 grant from the Job Training Policy Council of Ventura County.

Matt Lombardi, the job program coordinator, said the summer camp helps the children and the youths who are supervising them.

“Having the older kids who are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds work with younger kids of the same economic background helps provide a role model for the youngsters,” Lombardi said. “It also helps the participants in the summer youth program get a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment of working with these younger kids.”

This is the first time in recent memory that the children, aged 6 to 11, do not have to pay to go to the camp, which normally costs $60, Lombardi said. The camp runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Beck and Colonia parks. Ten youths at each park supervise an average of 50 children each day.

The camp counselors take children on field trips to the beach or swimming in a public pool. They offer popcorn and ice cream during a showing of a videotaped movie once a week. And they work with them on arts and crafts.

Valerie Perez, 6, of Oxnard, has been coming to camp all summer long.

“I like to play and do stuff like coloring some animals and some persons,” she said.

Valerie added that she has finished her Popsicle-stick picture frame and can’t wait to put in a photograph.