School Plays Host to Abused Children

Students at Meadow Oaks School played host this week to boys from a home for abused children, recipients of the proceeds of a school fund-raiser.

Ten boys and their counselors spent Wednesday at the Meadow Oaks Camp in Calabasas, swimming, riding horses, boating and panning for gold.

The junior high classes at Meadow Oaks adopted Cottage 1A of the Childhelp USA Village in Beaumont as a community service project after hearing from the program’s directors about the children who live at the camp.

The home is a residential treatment center that meets the physical, emotional and educational needs of children who have been severely abused or neglected.

The school’s walkathon conducted by students, faculty and parents in June raised $1,400 to benefit the program, said Barbara Lallone, public relations director for the school.

The money was used to buy beach towels and bathing suits for each of the boys, as well as an electric fryer, videos and a video game player and games for the center. And a portion of the funds were used to help purchase in-line skates for each boy, Lallone said.

The boys, Lallone said, come from foster homes and “intolerable family situations. Each and every story touches the heart.”