Children’s Lifesaving Foundation Wilderness camps return for the Summer

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The Children's Lifesaving Foundation has begun its summer camps at King Gillette Ranch. Program directors and travel supervisors smile for a photo during their camp session at the ranch on June 28. Photo by Samantha Bravo/TMT.

The organization continues to provide resources that create an impact to kids around LA

With Summer in full swing, over 400 students have experienced a summer of exploring and learning so far this summer with the Children’s Lifesaving Foundation at King Gillette Ranch and CLF Coastal Eco-Mariners Surf Camps at Zuma Beach.

CLF provides a great mix of classic camp activities like swimming, arts and crafts classes, special Wilderness Hikes, and learning about live animal that live in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. 

Over the years, the nonprofit’s three program platforms (Living, Learning, Enrichment) have helped thousands of at-risk and homeless youth and families. “Living” identifies and provides support to LA families living in shelters. “Learning” provides at-risk children with a place to study, along with mentors and tutors, and continues that support from kindergarten through high school. “Enrichment” provides experiences including beach trips to Malibu, summer camp, and holiday parties.

Volunteer Extraordinaire and Fundraising Consultant Suzanne Smith said the program helps kids feel comfortable aboutlearning and exploring. 

“This group of third- and fifth-graders are a perfect age; they’re so good to work with, they’re so curious, and they’re so sweet, and that’s why this program is so amazing because it provides them the resources that they need,” Smith said. 

Smith also said the program also helps kids respect the land they explore.

“All this land is sacred land and we weren’t the first people here and we need to have respect for it and reverence for it and enjoy it, it’s here for us to enjoy,” she said. “It’s so good to just be in nature and be out and just explore and see the excitement over a frog or bunny rabbit.”

Smith also hopes CLF will have its own venue rather than renting out a location like King Gillette Ranch.

“My deep passion is to be able to make enough where I can build a camp for them so they don’t have to worry about where their events will be held,” she said. “They can hold every event there; they don’t have to rent out a venue because the money they spend could be going back to these families.” 

Traveling Program Supervisor for the LA’s Best’s Afterschool program Michelle Moreno said she is glad the organization is still going strong.

“We’ve been doing it for so many years,” Moreno said. “They do their arts and crafts, they do their hike, right now they’re doing a relay race, … they go home exhausted, but they really love it.” 

CLF Founder Maria D’Angelo, who recently announced her retirement, was at the wilderness camp on June 28 at King Gillette Ranch.

“This is our 31st summer, even though I’m retired, I’m so happy to be here,” D’Angelo said. “It’s really just fun for me, being here with them, and seeing the kids enjoy themselves. I think that’s the most important thing.” 

Traveling staff member for LA’s Best Alex Perez said some kids have been to the parks before but no matter it’ssomeone’s first or third time, the trips make an impact.

“There’s an impact, there’s a lot of kids that live in the inner city, and they don’t get to experience wilderness so the fact that their here, it’s a new experience, they love it,” he said. “I just recently met Maria and Sean and the whole family at the holiday dinner and they’re great, these kids know they’re going somewhere good, they don’t really know what they’reexpecting and when they see everything — they remember it, even if it’s a one-day thing, they’ll remember it forever.” 

CLF Program Director Sean McCaffery shared some of the activities the kids have enjoyed so far.

Childrens Lifesaving Foundation Program Director Sean McCaffrey left and Camp Counselor Dylan McCaffrey are shown at King Gillette Ranch. Contributed photo
Children’s Lifesaving Foundation Program Director Sean McCaffrey (left) and Camp Counselor Dylan McCaffrey are shown at King Gillette Ranch. Contributed photo.

“The Children’s Lifesaving Foundation’s Wilderness Camps at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas and CLF Coastal Eco-Mariners Surf Camps at Zuma Beach in Malibu is really an amazing experience,” McCaffery said. “It has been a joy to work for CLF for over two decades. Last week at our Wilderness Camp, we had two amazing firewomen come from the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Explorer Program to speak about their work. We hire great counselors and educators, like hiking master Rob Remedi, some amazing animal educators to bring actual tarantulas, snakes, fuzzy friends and more for each camper to interact with and learn about, we have an awesome crafts component, as well as outdoor relays and games which complete a very innovative, classic, and most important free camp experience for the youth we serve.” 

Students have also attended their free camp for all project and Project Angel Wings Holiday programs for the past 30 years.

CLF Executive Director Francesca McCaffery said the California Coastal Commission Whale Tail Grant is also the signature sponsor of our CLF Coastal Eco-Mariners Surf Camp once again this season.

“We are so grateful to the wonderful individual friends and supporters and terrific funders like the City of Malibu, the Carrie Estelle Doheny Foundation, the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, the CA Fire Foundation, the Venable Foundation, The Lavine-Ortiz Family,  the James Joseph Ford Foundation, Whole Foods Community Giving, and many others, including an amazing, anonymous angel,” she said. 

The City of Malibu gave The CLF the very first grant in 1993 to refurbish the bathrooms at the Circle Ranch, an abandoned campsite in Malibu which the organization refurbished with volunteer help and donated materials and for their efforts received two five-year leases from the National Park Services! It was at the Circle X Ranch that their Camp for All program began! Since July 7, 1993, over 90,000 underserved youth and families have attended their free Camp4 All Camps each summer. Malibu City Councilmember Paul Grisanti presented D’Angelo with the Malibu Certificate of the City at the CLF’s 30th Anniversary Gala on Dec. 2, 2023 (and the City of Los Angeles also awarded her their Certificate of the City from Mayor Karen Bass that night.) The City of Malibu also awarded Maria the Citizen of the Year Award in 1994. 

McCaffery said June 28’s camp was dedicated to the memory of one of their very first and most beloved benefactors,mpMr. Bob Salka, who will always be remembered by CLF staff, volunteers and families.