Looking forward to discovering the outdoors
Kerron Donelson has been through a lot. The quiet 9-year-old with thick black eyelashes and a wide, sweet smile moved to the Los Angeles area in January with his mom, Tamika, and 6-year-old sister, Nyjah.
Since then, they’ve relocated four times, each new spot a bleak reminder of how little they have. They spent two nights in the Union Rescue Mission -- a Skid Row homeless shelter. Now they’re living in a crowded budget motel on a traffic-clogged street in Santa Monica.
The family left Peoria, Ill., a few years after Kerron’s grandmother was murdered. Tamika Donelson believes her mother was the victim of a serial killer who preyed on poor, drug-addicted black women. The case remains unsolved.
“I wanted to get away from all that,” says Donelson, 25. “But getting stable is the hard part -- getting a foundation and a place to live.”
Despite all the upheaval in their lives, Donelson has been able to keep the kids in the same school all semester. They’ve missed only two days of class, she says.
“I try to keep it as normal as possible,” she says. “I don’t think they really realize how hard we have it right now.”
She works full time as a nurse’s aide and searches the Internet for opportunities for her kids. That’s how she found out that Kerron could receive funding from Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters to go to Camp Max Straus in the Verdugo Mountains this summer.
“I think he just needs a little time to get a break and get away,” Donelson says.
Kerron and Nyjah play tag in the motel courtyard, but there’s not much room and there aren’t any other kids to play with.
Kerron’s warm eyes light up when he’s told that there will be lots of kids at camp. He’s especially looking forward to swimming and exploring the outdoors.
“You get to learn about nature. And you get to see wild things like snakes,” he says.
About 10,000 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 donate 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.