A family’s love gives teen the will to push on

By the time Phillip Morrow was 4, he had lived in four different foster homes. Along with his half-brother, Lemar Davis, then 5, Phillip was placed in MacLaren Children’s Center, Los Angeles County’s scandal-ridden shelter for foster kids, which closed in 2003.

The couple who would become the brothers’ adoptive parents -- Becky and Steven Norris -- came to interview Phillip and Lemar at the center. The children had been separated for months. When Phillip learned his brother would soon join him, he could not sit still.

“I just remember me jumping all over the place. I’ll never forget that,” says Phillip, now 17.

When Lemar and Phillip saw each other, they embraced and cried, Becky Norris says. They could not stop hugging each other.

“They were so overwhelmed at seeing each other,” Norris says. “It was the love between the two of them. You couldn’t pull them apart. They’re still the same way.”

When the Norrises brought the boys home -- clad in pajamas, the only clothes they owned -- the two were so poorly socialized that when Phillip was asked at the dinner table to pass the salt, he said, “What’s that?”

Living in the family’s stable home in Pasadena, the boys matured and are now promising young men, as well as role models for their two 14-year-old foster brothers.

In the fall, Phillip will start his senior year at Pasadena High School. The room he and Lemar share is filled with baseball, track and football trophies.

In 2003, Phillip was honored at a banquet of the Alliance for Children’s Rights, where he proudly recalls master of ceremonies Jay Leno telling him: “Good job. Keep up the good work.”

Phillip credits the support of his family for turning him into a successful student and athlete. He says he also learned a lot from going to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Circle V Ranch Camp, which he has attended every summer since he was 7. His experiences there helped him learn to get along with others and built his self-confidence.

“It helps me by teaching me respect and loyalty and honesty. You can carry that on to other people that don’t have that, and you can teach them,” says Phillip.

Phillip still remembers his first visit to the camp, in Los Padres National Forest near Santa Barbara. He had never been in the wilderness before, and he was seduced by the serenity of the land.

“We were taking a hike, and we came along this road where we started to see ladybugs. We kept going and this whole mountain was just filled with them,” Phillip says. “It was really quiet and you could hear the ladybugs flying. We had never seen anything like that before.”

About 10,000 underprivileged children will go to camp this summer, thanks to $1.6 million raised last year.

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 $1.1 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.