About
Happy Trails for Kids offers overnight camp experiences that include hiking, canoeing, rock-climbing, dancing, singing silly songs by a campfire, and star gazing. Campers take part in these activities alongside other children in foster care.
• Ages: 7–17 years old
• Schedule: Youth ages 7–17 are invited to spend a week in the great outdoors
Happy Trails for Kids provides overnight summer camps and other year-round outdoor adventures for youth in the Southern California foster care system. The program includes year-round educational, cultural, outdoor, and social programming activities, along with older youth programs for teenage campers. Campers who reach 18 and beyond can remain involved as summer camp counselors, and the program’s motto is “once a camper, always a camper.”
Under the supervision of an experienced Camp Director, the camp is staffed by a team of trained and enthusiastic counselors and a nurse who is available on-site. The majority of camp counselors are former foster youth, and several staff members have successfully emerged from the foster care system and serve as role models. The leadership team includes September Sucher (Camp Director), Vincent Steven (Trails To Success Project Manager), Lindsay Elliott (Executive Director), and board members Charlotte Hunt Harvey, Dr. Deanna Cooke, Erika Frank, Jeffrey Schwartz, Jonathan Abrams (Board Chairman), Josh Pianko, Marci Gonzalez Rand, Mark Hikin (Board Secretary and Treasurer), Pepper Edmiston (Founder), Ronda Jackson, and Susan Abrams (Co-Founder and Board Member).
Happy Trails for Kids is dedicated to bringing camping, connections and confidence into the lives of boys and girls growing up in foster care. Through the great outdoors, overnight summer camp, year-round extracurricular engagements, and a supportive team of counselors, children are described as being transformed by the power of positivity and possibility and are equipped with skills and surrounded by support to live happy and healthy lives. Happy Trails for Kids is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Through a partnership with the Felix Organization, the camping program has expanded to include Winter Camp and overnight tent camping for older youth participants. The program also offers year-round reunion events, weekly extracurricular programs, and older youth initiatives, forming a year-round community where childhood is celebrated and friendships flourish. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a 133-acre deed for Happy Trails for Kids to transform a property into a permanent camp home, and this new site will serve as a model campus for thousands of children in foster care to experience overnight camps and year-round recreational and educational programs.
Last updated March 14, 2026.
• Ages: 7–17 years old
• Schedule: Youth ages 7–17 are invited to spend a week in the great outdoors
Happy Trails for Kids provides overnight summer camps and other year-round outdoor adventures for youth in the Southern California foster care system. The program includes year-round educational, cultural, outdoor, and social programming activities, along with older youth programs for teenage campers. Campers who reach 18 and beyond can remain involved as summer camp counselors, and the program’s motto is “once a camper, always a camper.”
Under the supervision of an experienced Camp Director, the camp is staffed by a team of trained and enthusiastic counselors and a nurse who is available on-site. The majority of camp counselors are former foster youth, and several staff members have successfully emerged from the foster care system and serve as role models. The leadership team includes September Sucher (Camp Director), Vincent Steven (Trails To Success Project Manager), Lindsay Elliott (Executive Director), and board members Charlotte Hunt Harvey, Dr. Deanna Cooke, Erika Frank, Jeffrey Schwartz, Jonathan Abrams (Board Chairman), Josh Pianko, Marci Gonzalez Rand, Mark Hikin (Board Secretary and Treasurer), Pepper Edmiston (Founder), Ronda Jackson, and Susan Abrams (Co-Founder and Board Member).
Happy Trails for Kids is dedicated to bringing camping, connections and confidence into the lives of boys and girls growing up in foster care. Through the great outdoors, overnight summer camp, year-round extracurricular engagements, and a supportive team of counselors, children are described as being transformed by the power of positivity and possibility and are equipped with skills and surrounded by support to live happy and healthy lives. Happy Trails for Kids is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Through a partnership with the Felix Organization, the camping program has expanded to include Winter Camp and overnight tent camping for older youth participants. The program also offers year-round reunion events, weekly extracurricular programs, and older youth initiatives, forming a year-round community where childhood is celebrated and friendships flourish. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a 133-acre deed for Happy Trails for Kids to transform a property into a permanent camp home, and this new site will serve as a model campus for thousands of children in foster care to experience overnight camps and year-round recreational and educational programs.
Last updated March 14, 2026.
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