‘Happy Trails for Kids’ gets permanent home for foster kids summer camp after LA County donates land​on February 19, 2025 at 12:55 pm

ACTON (KABC) — A recent gift from Los Angeles County will wind up changing the lives of countless kids. The gift: more than 100 acres of land in Acton that will give foster children the chance to go to camp.

Right now, there are tens of thousands of children who are in the foster care system in LA County. Some of them are in stable homes. many of them are not, forced to live a life bouncing from home to home, not knowing where they will be from day to day. It can be a tough life. This land will be home to a place these kids know will always be there for them, regardless of what is going on in their lives.

For many of the 23-thousand foster kids in LA County, summer camp may as well be the moon. When your life is moving, and upheaval and survival, things like rock climbing and s’mores aren’t exactly your reality.

But for more than 15 years, one local organization has been working to bring some stability and a lot of fun into their lives. Lindsay Elliott has been running “Happy Trails for Kids” for the last eight years and has seen its effects firsthand.

“His favorite thing about coming to camp was that he got to feel ordinary. And I thought that’s really profound. Because he said in other areas of his life, he felt different. He felt like an outcast. At camp it was a place that he was just a kid,” said Elliott.

But to provide this experience, the camp has been hopping around Southern California to whatever camp could fit them in. But that is about to change! Elliott recently gave us a tour of a 135-acre site that will soon be Happy Trails permanent home.

This site is nearly 100 years old. It opened in 1933 as one of Franklin Roosevelt’s CCC camps. In 1940, it became a home for tuberculosis patients. In the 60’s and 70’s it was home to the country’s largest alcohol rehabilitation center. it would remain in use until the pandemic, and the grounds have been sitting vacant for years now. In stepped in LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

“When I heard, they were looking for a permanent location to put together a camp for foster youth and knowing that the county’s not using it anymore, I felt that it was the perfect opportunity to give it to an organization that’s actually going to recognize the importance of investing in our foster youth,” said Barger. “So Happy Trails does remarkable things, and I’m really honored to be a small part in helping them really uplift foster youth.”

Work here is just getting underway. There are over 80 buildings on site, being renovated to make things appropriate for kids and welcoming. And for kids who may not have stability in their lives, no one place to call their own, and not much to look forward to, this place will be theirs.

“This property is so much more than a camp. It’s going to be an oasis of learning and adventure and continuity, consistency,” said Elliott.

Phase 1 will be getting the cabins and buildings ready. The goal is to open for the summer of 2026. They need to raise millions of dollars to make it happen.

If you would like to make a donation, visit www.happytrailsforkids.org.