KERNVILLE, Calif. (KERO) — The Camp Owens Boys camp is a work camp for juvenile youth that's been around since 1938.
- This year various members of the community raised and donated money to the Camp Erwin Owen probation facility. This money helps fund things like the C.O.E.P program, which provide well-behaving boys with recreational opportunities.
- On July 11, Kernville resident Dean Moss donated around $13,000 to the boys camp.
- on July 11 there were 30 boys currently at the camp and the average time spent at the camp by students is 4 months.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“Nowadays the kids that we have here are all wards of the court, delinquent youth, they range from 14 to 18 years olds,” explained Jason Hillis, Assistant Director of Camp Owen.
If you walked into Camp Owen not knowing it was a probation facility, you might think it were the grounds of a one of the lodges that are common in Kernville.
Hillis told me the goal of the camp is to take youth that have had hard upbringing -
“And over the period of four to six months put 20 pounds on them, show them the value of a hard day's work, teach them respect, maybe put a couple of grade levels on them here at the school.”
Operations look much different than they did when the camp opened in 1938.
Boys in the camp used to work a brick maker - those bricks then used to build facilities on the campus.
“Merle Haggard called me, he’s my uncle, he said, ‘Hey Jay, I heard you're working at camp.’ ‘Yeah Merle.’ ‘You know I was there in 1948?’”
Now there is an emphasis on positive reinforcement, students get the opportunity to upgrade their living quarters or join a C.O.E.P trip, which stands for Camp Outdoor Educational Project. The program was started about 3 years ago.
“So the C.O.E.P program is an incentive based program we have here at camp, and it’s all earned with hard work.”
And the boys do work on the campus, whether that’s in the garden –
“It all gets sent down to the mess hall.”
Tending to the hogs and chickens, learning to cook in the mess hall, or completing coursework in the school on campus.
“We try to hold the kids accountable through work, through discipline.” Hillis said.
“If they get good grades, they work hard, they get to have fun on the river and have a good time,” said Patrick Jackson, Coordinator for the C.O.E.P program.
On the day I visited, eleven of the thirty boys currently at the camp earned a trip to Brush Creek as part of C.O.E.P.
“They just get to see the other side of life that they may have a chance to see out there, so it’s really nice to reward them for all the work they put in.”
Jackson says the program also takes them to community volunteer events, with the boys from Camp Owens helping distribute food in Lake Isabella and pick up trash on the Kern River.
The C.O.E.P. program is funded by donations - this year's Whiskey Flat Mayoral race victors River Rat Ryan and Deputy Doug raised roughly $43,000 dollars for the program. Even more recently Kernville Resident Dean Moss held a golf tournament fundraiser and raised around $13,000 dollars for the camp.
Moss said he felt compelled after taking a tour of the Camp
“The biggest thing was the dedication to the program from the staff and just talking to the staff and when I was able to actually go and see the kids and meet a few of the kids that pretty much did it,” Moss said.
Talking about a recent trip, Jackson tells me about how these recreation trips can provide opportunities for experiences they’ve never had before.
“They had a chance to see the other side of life, and see what life can be all about outside of Camp Erwin Owen,” Jackson said.
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