There’s More Hopeful Youths Than Funds for Planned Train Trip to Utah

Frances Ramon, the director of the Teen Post in Pico-Union, had planned on taking a dozen neighborhood youngsters, many of whom have never before left Los Angeles, on a train trip to Utah to give them a chance to see more of America.

So last week a fund-raising dinner for the trip was held at the nearby Angelica Lutheran Church. Though the $1,300 that was raised is enough to fund the three-day trip for nearly all of the kids, a problem has arisen: When word hit the streets about the trip, so many more kids wanted to come along that now a second fund-raiser might be held.

“All these kids, even some of the young gang kids, they keep coming up to me saying, ‘Can I go? Please, please,’ ”, said Ramon, who runs the small Teen Post on Venice Boulevard that is a haven in the gang-ridden neighborhood.

A decision will be made early next week about whether enough money can be raised in this poor neighborhood to make a second fund-raiser worthwhile.

“It will be a great opportunity for these kids to get to see and understand about another city,” said Pastor Carlos Paiva of Angelica Lutheran. “And Teen Post is the best agency in Pico-Union for helping keep kids out of gangs.”

“Our whole thing is to keep the kids out of trouble and to keep Venice Boulevard clean from Hoover to Union,” said Ramon, who says the youngsters who come to the Teen Post after school are active in sweeping the streets and wiping out graffiti.

“Frances Ramon is doing an outstanding job for us,” said Clyde Hill, executive director of Teen Post. The other Teen Posts are in Chinatown, Venice, the Pueblo Del Rio housing project and 44th and Main Street. In previous years, Ramon has lead post members on trips to Chicago and New York.

“I wanna go there and make a big snowball and roll it down the hill and see it get bigger and bigger,” said Danny Marquez, 6, as he played in the Teen Post.

Anyone interested in helping fund the trip can call Paiva at (213) 382-6378.