A little more relaxed, a little more grown up

Harmony Cassese keeps a glossy picture of herself tacked onto the wall of her room in which she’s wearing a ratty T-shirt, an old pair of jeans and a smudgy complexion.

“We took that picture on the first day with the whole camp,” she says of the image, which was taken last year at Camp Fox on Catalina Island.

“I look at that picture and it reminds me how I changed while I was there. I mean, I look completely different. My hair was just like, whatever. And at home I always do my hair!”

And a 4-by-5 was only one of the many things Harmony, 14, brought home with her last summer.

“Camp helps give kids self- confidence because they’re away from home for the first time,” said Tina Starr, camp coordinator for Shelter for the Homeless, a group that sends participants to Camp Fox every summer.

Harmony, her mother and two brothers now reside in a one-bedroom Anaheim apartment, after completing the organization’s one-year program for families struggling to overcome homelessness.

Beverly Cassese, Harmony’s mother, a veterinary assistant, says camp provided a welcome respite for her children.

Harmony was able to open up at the camp, where she was one of 150 teenagers, ages 13 to 18.

“Canoeing was my favorite, though,” she says of the activity that gave her the most solace. “I always went by myself because a partner would give me a hard time, telling me how to row. But being on your own was peaceful.”

But Starr says there’s more for campers than acquiring new boating skills.

“I felt more mature when I got back,” Harmony said. “At camp, I was having fun, but I guess I was growing up at the same time.”

Shelter for the Homeless 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