Marshmallows and hikes in mountains

As they skip into downtown L.A.’s All Peoples Christian Center, Cinthia and Cathy Acosta shine in comparison to the muddy chain-link fences and endless concrete covering the neighborhood. The sisters are dressed impeccably: poufy white ballerina dresses, perfectly sculpted Goldilocks curls and hazel eyes reminiscent of porcelain dolls.

Cinthia, 9, and Cathy, 10, proceed to the center’s conference room, where their Mexican-born parents sit to the side, watching the girls adoringly as their daughters speak in a language foreign to them.

“When I think of camp, I see, like, a mountain with lots of trees and more rocks, and I’m wearing a T-shirt with shorts,” Cinthia says dreamily, smoothing over her dress with her palms.

“I think we’re going to eat marshmallows and tell stories with our flashlight,” Cathy adds excitedly.

The girls have spent much of their time lately envisioning what their first summer at the Loch Leven camp in the San Bernardino area of Mentone will be like. Sixty-four kids ages 8 to 12 will spend a week together, playing tug of war, limboing and hiking with watermelons that they’ll be able to eat at the summit.

The camp is sponsored by the nonprofit community center, which provides social services to the neighborhood. Through it, the girls can attend camp for a mere $10.

“It’s pretty much the experience of their life,” says Julio Ramos, the administrative and camp director for All Peoples Christian Center. “They get to take a whole week out of their life to be in a community that’s fun and secure.”

Cinthia and Cathy share a one-bedroom apartment with their parents in a neighborhood near the center in South Central Los Angeles. Their father, who works 12 hours a day at a local factory, and their mother, a housewife, immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico 13 years ago.

“It gives the kids something to remember for the rest of their lives and moves them out of the gang-infested areas into the natural environment, where they have the opportunity to see something different than just traffic and buses and shootings,” Ramos says.

“It’ll be different to explore new places than the cement and sidewalks,” says Cathy, who is in the sixth grade.

“Yeah, it’ll be a different place I’ve never gone to,” fifth-grader Cinthia chirps in. “Here, I feel normal. But I won’t there.”

The All Peoples Christian Center is one of 60 organizations receiving financial support this year through the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign. More than 8,000 underprivileged children will go to camp this summer, thanks to $1.5 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.

amy.kaufman@latimes.com