How you can help a needy Long Beach child attend summer camp

Marissa has been in and out of several foster homes since she was three years old and has missed out on enjoyable childhood memories.

Abandoned by her parents, Marissa was moved from one foster home to another because she “didn’t fit in” with family members already in the homes.

Marissa was finally adopted by a loving family when she was 11 years old.

Her adoptive parents had gone to summer camps themselves when they were children and knew Marissa would benefit from going to camp herself.

But her adoptive parents had financial difficulty and applied for a camper scholarship through the Press-Telegram’s Send-a-Kid-to-Camp Fund.

The P-T Camp Fund sent Marissa to a week at Camp Oakes operated by the YMCA last summer.

“She experienced new things she had never had the chance to do, given her unstable childhood,” said a YMCA counselor.

“Marissa loved skits with her cabin at campfire, eating big meals, canoeing and simply fitting in with her peers,” the counselor said.

She also caught a fish for the first time.

You can help send children like Marissa to camp by donating to the Press-Telegram’s camp fund.

The Press-Telegram and the Long Beach Community Foundation have partnered to send kids to local mountain camps operated by Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA, Camp Fire USA, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

The average cost of sending a child to one week at summer camp is $400.

It was to help children like Marissa that motivated Tom Heessy, the P-T’s longtime columnist, to start the Kid-to-Camp Fund 17 years ago.

To honor Heessy, who died April 2, all of this year’s campers will be called “Tom’s Kids.”

Thank you for your generosity and for making a difference in the life of children like Marissa.

Weekly Total: $4,385

Total this campaign: $53,155

June 2 – June 9, 2016

Robert Bellinger

in memory of Cecily and Ray Berry

Shelby Bruer

Alda Christensen

Dick and Karen Clements

Boie Daugherty

A Denison

Rodney Deis and Doa Leslie-Deis

Deloris Du

Eleanor Kehoe Eck

Tom and Alma Egan

Eugene and Regina Funaro

Keeth M. Gregory

Barbara Jones

Nancy Kneuer

Barbara Maas

Phyllis Mackey

William and Claire Marmion

Chris and Denise Roybal

Barbara and Robert Smith

Stephen and Andrea Smith

Robert Stephens

Judith E. Thiel

Mary Jean Tusha

Sandy VandenBerge

Shaon W

Joyce and Harold Zoubul

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