Outdoors, she finds the room to grow

Marissa Bent flips through her 384-page horse encyclopedia, pointing out the jet-black Friesian and golden palomino she hopes to own on her dream farm in Oregon.

For three summers, 11-year-old Marissa has gone to horse camp near Idyllwild, where she has mucked stables, cleaned saddles and bridles, and brushed the horses for the opportunity to ride them around the large arena.

Taking horses down the trails and learning to ride bareback have more than made up for the camp’s three-minute-shower policy and trips to the outhouse.

But the challenges presented to Marissa at camp pale in comparison with the struggles she has overcome over the course of her life. Marissa has never known her father, and her mother was pregnant with Marissa while in prison on a drug-related conviction.

Marissa went to live with her grandmother when she was 4 and sees her mother just once a year, telephoning her on holidays and during birthday celebrations.

Three years ago, Marissa’s two stepsisters and two stepbrothers came to live in her grandmother’s La Habra home.

“They’re my retirement plan,” joked Gloria Bent, Marissa’s grandmother. “It’s been a major adjustment. These kids are dealing with abandonment issues, and camp is the only time that Marissa gets away from all of us.”

This year, Marissa is attending theater camp in Idyllwild for the first time. She will help design sets, make costumes and put on plays in the woods for 12 days at Camp Sherman.

While it’s a departure from her usual camp experience with horses, Marissa wants to be well-rounded. She has consistently earned straight A’s in school, she tap dances, plays soccer and piano and is teaching herself to play the guitar.

“Camp has been a good, strengthening experience,” Gloria Bent said. “Horses can be intimidating, but she’s learned to be willing to try new things and go places that are different than what she’s used to. It’s taught her not to be afraid of new experiences.”

Marissa is among the 12,000 children who will go to camp this summer thanks to the $2.1 million raised in the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign last year. Donations this season will ensure that just as many deserving children get the camp experience next summer.

The annual fundraising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1.2 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make donations by credit card, go to latimes.com/summercamp.

To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash.

Unless requested otherwise, gifts of $50 or more will be acknowledged in The Times.