We all know how rejuvenating outdoor experiences can be. But a recent survey by the Stewardship Council found less than one third of California children participated in outdoor programs during summertime. And kids from lower-income families don’t get outdoors as often as those from high-income backgrounds. Reporter Rebecca Tolin tells of a local organization that brings the outdoors to kids.
The local non-profit Outdoor Outreach says all they need is outdoor opportunity.
Juan Herrera, Outdoor Outreach Instructor: I didn't have a role model. My role models were the streets, you know. That's where I grew up, that's where I came from because I didn't have family. I always had the mentality I was going to be lost on the streets, be lost on drugs and all that and things that was imprinted on me since I was a kid. When I stepped out of that situation, I realized I was able to go beyond that.
At 23, Juan Herrera has already left one life and started another. After losing both parents by age 14, he ran away from an abusive relative and found refuge at the Toussaint Academy, for homeless youth. But Herrera was still lost, depressed and angry.
Juan Herrera: The staff from the teen center told me it was a great idea for me to actually go in and do this activity. And I'm like what is it? They're like, “It’s rock-climbing.” I'm like “It's rock-climbing, that's stupid.” I'm like, “I don't want to do that, who the heck wants to go rock climbing.” I'm like, “I just want to sit here and watch TV.”
With little else calling him, Herrera joined Outdoor Outreach on an excursion. To his surprise, rock-climbing took him to new heights, and offered a fresh outlook on life.
Juan Herrera: I used to get that adrenalin rush but it was from fighting, from, you know, taking my anger out on, destructiveness, but now I had this similar adrenalin rush but it was through rock-climbing and I loved it! And next thing you know, I'm rock-climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, surfing, just like, it was just great.
Four years later, Herrera helps lead outdoor outreach trips with founder Chris Rutgers. His own violently abusive childhood healed through a love of outdoor sports. Rutgers started the non-profit to give disadvantaged kids a chance at hope.
Chris Rutgers: There's a statistic that says these kids never leave a five-block radius, ever. And this is their entire universe, this five-block radius that's filled with violence, gangs, drugs, abusive home situations, and so a lot of what we're trying to do is get them outside of that five-block radius here at the beach, up in the mountains, and show them look there is this great big awesome world out there. There are all these amazing things you can do.
On this day, Outdoor Outreach is surfing with kids from the Monarch School. Jessica Captain and Ricci Geladino have found a love of the long board and the big wave. The sisters never imagined they’ve get the chance to learn a new sport. Just months ago, the teens were homeless, out of school and low on luck.
Jessica Captain: We moved from Connecticut and our grandma kind of kicked us out and we didn't have a place to live so we were homeless.
Ricci Geladino: It sucked!
Jessica Captain: It sucked! I mean, it was okay, it wasn't like the end of the world, but it could have been better.
Ricci Geladino: It could have been better, but as long as we were with our families. But the food was so bad, so gross, ahhh!
Yang Fowler, Monarch School After School Supervisor: They don't get this kind of opportunity at home usually because of their living situation. It's very rare for them to go on trips like this, so it's just great!
For months, Rutgers and his team have been taking a group of eager Monarch students to the beach.
Yang Fowler: We're going over the bridge to Coronado today and since it's an after-school trip, we'll have one long surf session in the water.
Just a few miles by van transports kids a world away. After ten summer surf trips, Jessica, Ricci and the other monarch kids are hooked. Each student gets individual instruction and encouragement. Rutgers says kids learn to trust themselves, then others. Outdoor Outreach is founded on the idea you can't give kids confidence, but you can give them a surfboard or a snowboard and allow them to build their own self-esteem through experience.
Chris Rutgers: They get pumped up on surfing or snowboarding or rock-climbing or whatever, and it starts to carry out through all aspects of their life. They start doing better in school. They start relating better with other people. They stop getting into trouble and all these great things. And it all just sort of flows from they found the thing they love to do.
Jessica Captain: Just getting on the wave and standing up, that's the best part. You feel happy...
Ricci Geladino: …That you've accomplished something… we started not knowing how to surf and here we are just “duh-uh-nuh” on the wave and stuff!
The surfing siblings say they’ve also gained a sense of determination to work hard for something, like the snowboarding trips. The monarch students raised their own funds for a 3-day outing to Mammoth. It had special significance for Jessica and Ricci since they were homeless at the time.
Ricci Geladino: We were in the shelter when we went snowboarding.
Jessica Captain: So we had our own beds and we got to eat good food.
Ricci Geladino: We had a dresser. We had a dresser to put our stuff in.
Chris Rutgers: These kids, we take them snowboarding, they've never seen the snow. They've never been outside their neighborhood and all of a sudden they're up there and at first they've a little bit frustrated, they don't think they can do it. They're like “there's no way.” And by the end of the day, they're actually doing it and they're snowboarding down the hill and it’s this immediate, amazing, awesome glow they get right away.
Juan Herrera: So here it is, this is my little spot. And right here, as you can tell, with Outdoor Outreach, all my badges.
Herrera has made his home in this studio at the Toussaint Academy, after graduating from their teen program. His rent is subsidized while he takes a full schedule of classes at City College. Herrera is majoring in Chicano studies to learn more about his culture.
And he works part-time as an instructor for Outdoor Outreach.
Juan Herrera: I don't think there's a better job out there, at least for me, the perfect job, than working with the kids and teaching them something, to give them an opportunity that was given to me once, giving them a different alternative to being out on the streets.
Ricci Geladino: It's given us something to look forward to, like when we know we have a trip coming up, we can't sleep, and we’re like “Oh my God we're going!”
