MAKING A DIFFERENCE : Fam Camp: Idyllic Getaways for Urban Families

A trip to a shopping mall, the beach or a city park hardly qualify as a vacation, but the options for low-income families that want to spend time together are limited.

And for those who live in areas with drug, gang or crime activity, neutral recreational turf can be hard to find.

Fam Camp, a program developed by the California Park Service, introduces these families to the peaceable possibilities and inexpensive realities of state parks. Community organizations like the Los Angeles Housing Authority link the Park Service with interested families and help to organize an overnight trip to a state park. Typically seven or eight families spend a weekend together at a campsite. The experience offers a taste of affordable recreational opportunities, with campsite fees of $16 a night for a family. Since the program began in 1992, more than 1,500 people have been introduced to California state parks.

WHAT RECREATION COSTS

Here’s how much a Southern California family of four spends for an average trip to: Basketball game: $179

Amusement park: $145

Baseball game: $90

(Includes admission, parking, food and inexpensive souvenirs.)

Source: individual amusement parks and sports teams

WHO PITCHES IN TO SET UP FAM CAMP:

The park service sets aside campsites and provides tents, stoves, sleeping bags, lanterns and coolers.

A community-based sponsoring organization reviews basic safety issues before the trip and helps families arrange transportation.

Campers bring food, cookware and other incidentals such as board games and fishing poles.

California Conservation Corps crews offer set-up assistance and lead hikes and nature talks. National service participants from AmeriCorps are also slated to assist Fam Camp.

THRIVING IN THE ‘WILD’:

Department of Parks and Recreation staff teach Fam Camp participants camping skills such as what to do if you become lost in the woods to how to pitch a tent and cook at a campground. But there are other opportunities for learning, too.

Maricela Hernandez, director of community services at the Ramona Gardens Community Service Center in East Los Angeles, worked with state parks and recreation superintendent Jack Shu to help organize the Fam Camp overnight trip to the Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area near San Bernardino pictured above. Families from two low-income housing sites in Los Angeles participated. Here’s what she said:

“Fam Camp gives families an experience they can bring back to the city. The stress of living in public housing is a constant part of your life. At the campsite you know that the only thing behind you is a tree. Maybe it’s hard to realize how nice it is at the park until after you come back. But then the family has learned a new way to get away and enjoy time together without spending too much.”

TO GET INVOLVED

Call (619) 220-5330.

Researched by CATHERINE GOTTLIEB / Los Angeles Times