SUMMERKIDS CAMP COMMUNITY RALLIES IN WAKE OF EATON FIRE DEVASTATION

ALTADENA, Calif., Jan. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Summerkids Camp, a family-run business in the hills of Altadena, announced that its camp property that hosted generations of children over five decades was destroyed by the Eaton Fire.

While the camp is closed, the camp community is rallying around each other, said Summerkids Camp Director Cara DiMassa, a member of the family that has run the camp since its founding. "We are grieving all that we have lost in Altadena, including many of our camp families' homes," DiMassa said. "But I am heartened by the way members of the Summerkids community are supporting one another."

DiMassa has spent the last week compiling a database of Summerkids Camp families who lost their home to the Eaton Fire, including the camp's caretaker, who lived on site. At last count, DiMassa said, more than 50 Summerkids Camp families had lost homes in the Eaton Fire, including several families in which both parents and children attended the camp.

"In some cases, families who lost their own homes have been donating to other Summerkids Camp families in similar situations," DiMassa said. "It shows how much we value each other as a camp community and come together in crises like this."

Summerkids, which began in 1978 and was located at the Altadena site since 1980, is owned and operated by the DiMassa family. Tens of thousands of campers from Altadena and surrounding communities have attended the camp, which served campers in grades K-9. 

The summer camp operated on a 55-acre site originally built for the Camp Fire Girls in the late 1940s. The site included a historic and architecturally significant lodge designed by famed local architect Boyd Georgi. In addition, all structures –  including four cabins, a caretaker's house, playgrounds, an amphitheater, archery ranges and more –  were lost in the fire.

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SOURCE Summerkids Camp