'Happy Trails for Kids' gets permanent home for foster kids summer camp after LA County donates land

ACTON, Calif. (KABC) -- A recent gift from Los Angeles County will wind up changing the lives of countless kids.

"Happy Trails for Kids", a local organization that has been working for more than 15 years to bring some stability and a lot of fun into the lives of foster children, recently received more than 100 acres of land in Acton that will now give foster children the chance to go to summer camp.

Right now, there are more than 23,000 children who are in the foster care system in L.A. County. Some of them are in stable homes, but many of them are not and are forced to live a life bouncing from home to home, not knowing where they will be from day to day.

With their life being surrounded by upheaval and survival, things like rock climbing and s'mores aren't exactly their reality.

The donated land will soon permanently house a summer camp, giving foster kids a place that will always be there for them, regardless of what is going on in their lives.

Lindsay Elliott has been running "Happy Trails for Kids" for the last eight years as their executive director 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," said Elliott. "At camp, it was a place that he was just a kid."

In order 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 Eyewitness News a tour of a 135-acre site that will soon be their camp's permanent home.

The 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 60s and 70s it was home to the country's largest alcohol rehabilitation center and it remained in use until the pandemic, and the grounds have been sitting vacant for years now.

That's when L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger stepped in to help.

"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 at the new location is just getting underway. There are over 80 buildings on site being renovated to make things welcoming and appropriate for kids.

"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.

Camp counselors are former campers, most of them foster youth themselves.

"Because I know I was alone for a little bit, I don't want them to feel like they're alone anymore. I want them to know that they have someone that's like them," said one of the counselors.

The camp also allows siblings who had been split up in the system to reunite.

"We don't really live with each other but at camp it's nice to have my sister around for a change," said one of the campers.

It also serves as an escape from reality for some foster youth.

"They gave my brother the freedom of being away from home and being away from the problems that are going on," said another camper.

Phase 1 will be getting the cabins and buildings ready, then they hope to have a pool and an equestrian center.

The goal is to open for the summer of 2026, but first they need to raise millions of dollars to make it happen.

"This camp, this place, this is a place of your own. This is a place you can return to year after year after year," said Elliott.

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