Summer camp fund helps kids escape stress

By Tom Gorman

Sunday, May 24, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Ask about his first summer camp and Victor Diaz starts talking about food. Lots of food. He was 10 years old, in fifth grade, and was forging an unforgettable memory of spending a week in the mountains.

He remembers — and cherishes — it all: the new kids he met, sitting along the river, storytelling around the campfire.

This summer, he is heading back into the mountains — as a 52-year-old — to watch over some 50 Las Vegas children ages 8 to 14 who are about to experience their first camp. They are one of several groups of local adolescents and teenagers who, thanks to the support of Sun readers, have been selected to participate in the Las Vegas Sun Summer Camp, set at multiple campgrounds in Mount Charleston and the foothills outside Las Vegas, the San Bernadino and Sierra Nevada mountains in California and the White Mountains in Arizona.

The kids have had a rough go of it in their everyday lives and deserve a week of fresh air, cool summer temperatures and lifelong memories. If Diaz knows one thing, it’s that they’ll have a blast and make new friends.

“When the kids leave for camp, a few kids might cry — only because they see their moms crying, and that gets them started,” Diaz said. “But once they’re up in the mountains, they’re making friends. I’ve never had a kid sent to me with a problem adjusting to camp.”

Diaz is trained to help children with problems. He has worked his entire career with young people, first as a school sports coach in Los Angeles and for the past seven years as an adult leader at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada. In a way, working with Sun Camp youngsters helps him relive his own experience.

“There’s so much to do — horseback riding, hikes, jogging, the rock-climbing wall, the skits during the campfires, the canoes,” Diaz said. “They love the canoes, splashing each other with the paddles, laughing, having a ton of fun.

“And there’s the dance at the end of the week. Kids are shy and they’re holding up the walls, right? Until one guy finally asks one girl, and that breaks the ice, and if other boys are shy, the girls dance with each other.”

But the week is more than just a series of fun events.

“These kids are underprivileged,” Diaz said. “Some come from broken homes or are dealing with financial difficulties. This gets them away from all those stresses they’re facing. Kids shouldn’t have to deal with stress, or not having enough food, or hearing their parents yelling. They deserve a break from that.

“Up in the mountains, at first, they stick with their friends. Then they start meeting others. You see them interacting with new kids at breakfast, lunch, dinner. They’re opening up and interacting with kids from different clubs, different races, different nationalities, whatever. It’s great.

“When the kids come home, they’re refreshed. And they see their parent crying again — because they missed them.”