Lions Camps at Teresita Pines

Originally founded as Camp Teresita Pines in 1929 by the Catholic Daughters of America. It was one of the earliest organization camps in the Los Angeles County Big Pines Recreation Area. The original Camp Teresita Pines consisted of a mess hall and kitchen, shower house and wash rooms. In 1935 the Civilian Conservation Corp. provided labor to construct a number of features at the Camp. Among these

improvements were the Chapel and stone additions to the Cabins. Camp Teresita Pines continued to be operated by the Catholic Daughters of America until 1995 when the Camp was purchased by the Lions of California-Nevada Wilderness Camp for Deaf Children, Inc. and renamed Teresita Pines Wilderness Camp. In 1998, a separate non-profit public benefit corporation, Lions Camp at Teresita Pines, Inc., was formed to maintain the Camp. In 2010, Lions Camp at Teresita Pines acquired an adjoining youth camp with a separate cabin and group tent camping facilities. As a result, we officially became Lions Camps at Teresita Pines with three separate rental sites named Teresita Village, Wrightwood Village and the Lions Den tent camping area. The Villages can be rented individually or together depending on the size of the rental group. The Camps are used in much the same manner as that under the direction of the Catholic Daughters of America, namely as an organizational group camps. The camps provides facilities and activities to both Lion and non-Lion groups on a daily, weekend and weekly reservation policy. Use of the Camps are no longer restricted to female campers. Facilities have been provided for both sexes. In addition, Lions and non-Lions sponsored Special Camps are held for children with disabilities. These special camps have hosted children with hearing impairments, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis. These Special Camp sessions are organized and staffed by the sponsoring organization. Only the physical facilities are provided by Lions Camps at Teresita Pines. At Teresita Village, we have renovated cabins and the dining hall to further our mission of providing accessible facilities to serve campers with special needs. A new system of accessible concrete pathways connects seven ADA accessible cabins with the dining hall, swimming pool, archery range, play field, campfire and chapel. The pathways can be used by campers in wheelchairs and have tactile indicators to assist the blind and vision impaired. Our facilities can be used by an entire group of campers with a similar disability as well as the group with one or two individuals with special needs that were previously excluded from attending camp with their friends.