By Daily Press staff
Thirteen Daybreak Shelter women in New Directions (WIND) members and staff held their annual camping trip at Leo Carrillo State Beach last month with campfire support groups, cave exploration and group hikes on the beach. The excursion gives homeless and formerly homeless women the opportunity to experience the great outdoors, some for the very first time.
“This was our eighth year for the camping event,”said Amy Turk, project director.“The women put up their own tents, cook their own group meals, play games, and gaze at the stars at night together. It allows nature to rebuild our spirits and to bond us as a group.”
Tents and camping equipment are provided by FamCamp and funded by the California State Parks Foundation.
“Daybreak is a place that saves lives,” said one camper. “And then the new ones come in. The camping trip was fun.”
Daybreak Shelter provides transitional housing, money management, life skills classes, mental health treatment, and housing search assistance to prepare residents for independent living and self-sufficiency. The WIND program also holds weekly classes in arts and crafts, health issues, and interpersonal relationships, as well as other recreational activities.
Daybreak Shelter is one of OPCC’s (formerly Ocean Park Community Center’s) 11 programs on eight sites in Santa Monica and the Westside, providing food, outreach, emergency services, transitional housing, health programs and more services for more than 10,000 homeless and low-income residents.
For more information, call (310) 264-6646 or visit www.opcc.net.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 3, 2006. Read the original PDF.