CANOGA PARK : Children to Attend UCLA-Cal Game

Fifty children from Canoga Park will be among thousands of poor and inner-city youths who will be treated to an evening at the Rose Bowl Saturday, when the UCLA Bruins will battle the UC Berkeley Golden Bears in the 1993 football season opener.

The field trip is part of an expanded charity football ticket program run through the university’s athletic department, said Tam Breckenridge, director of Athletics for Youth, a nonprofit corporation at UCLA.

UCLA football and other athletic programs often provided free tickets for youth organizations in the past, she said. But this year, the donations were consolidated into one program and expanded by private donors, including many Bruins season ticket-holders.

The result is that the Bruins have 12,000 tickets set aside for each of three home games this season. The tickets are being donated to more than 700 youth organizations, some from as far away as Bakersfield, Breckenridge said.

“Having children come to watch our events and see our athletes is more than making an extra buck at turnstile. We hope kids get something from it,” Breckenridge said, adding that the charity tickets also help fill seats that might have remained empty otherwise.

Anastasia Rose, administrative assistant for the Catholic Charities-owned Guadalupe Center in Canoga Park, said 50 children in the center’s youth program and 10 adult chaperons will go the the game on buses reserved by City Councilwoman Laura Chick.

It’s the first time in many years that such a field trip has been launched from the Guadalupe Center, which has been criticized by a local parent group in recent months for not providing enough youth activities.

Rose said it’s hoped that Guadalupe Center youth will begin attending UCLA athletic activities regularly using the charity ticket program.