Pyles Boys Camp

* Regarding your Feb. 19 article on a Florida experimental school to rescue at-risk boys, it should be noted that a somewhat similar program in Southern California has been turning around the lives of disadvantaged, at-risk boys for almost 50 years with little fanfare and without government funding of any kind.

More than 20,000 youngsters have benefited from the R.M. Pyles Boys Camp program since its founding in 1949. While the Pyles program is not a school and certainly eschews the paramilitary approach of the Florida experiment, it has proven successful in bringing hope and a workable formula for a better life to boys throughout the Los Angeles area.

The camp is located in the High Sierra and serves as the focal point for a multiyear program throughout the L.A. region stressing self-reliance, hard work and leadership training. Economically disadvantaged boys who are at risk are selected by school officials and child welfare and law enforcement agencies and guided by counselors who have been Pyles campers themselves.

PAUL LEITZELL, Exec. Dir.

R.M. Pyles Boys Camp

Valencia