Biking for family

Each year when Jason Howell was a kid he’d go to Royal Family Kids Camp for a week. It was always special.

And not just because he got to enjoy being a kid chasing lizards, attempting archery and building crafts in a wood shop. More importantly, he got to spend quality time with his younger brother, Mark Nagle, who lived with another family.

“I missed seeing my brother,” Howell said. “That was a comfortable sight for me.”

The Royal Family Camp is for children, like Howell and Nagle were all those years ago, who have been abused or neglected, many of whom are foster children.

This Saturday the Tour de OC bike-a-thon event at Vanguard University hopes to raise more than $35,000 to send children from abusive situations to the camp.

Howell went to Royal Family Kids Camp when it opened in 1985.

“It basically gave me a better perspective on life — that life wasn’t full of troubles, that life is actually fun and worth living,” Howell, 31, said. “I am not out there robbing banks because I am confident in who I am. I don’t have to join a gang to feel accepted because Royal Family Kids Camp accepted me for who I am.”

Howell, along with his brother Mark, were put into the foster care system when Howell was 4, he said. He and his brother were eventually adopted but ended up in different homes.

They would see each other occasionally on weekends, but the week at camp was their best opportunity to spend quality time, Howell said.

Howell said he was a troubled youth, often unaware of the harm or discomfort he caused others.

He sucked his thumb, had buck teeth and was often teased by other children.

But at Royal Family Kids Camp, he could fit in.

“I felt very much a part of it because the other kids there had a lot of the same issues and problems,” Howell said. “They were taken away from their birth parents, and I thought ‘These other kids are just like me.’”

For every two children at the camp there is one counselor giving them a unique personal experience.

“Let’s remember the name in this is family — abused children, what they lose is family,” said Dave Brooks, a Newport-Mesa Unified school board member and co-founder of Royal Family Kids Camp. “This meets the needs of these kids.”

Brooks was Howell’s counselor in 1990 — his last year attending the camp.

Howell remembers Brooks, who was a police officer then, coming to the camp to help out. He recalls looking up to him, which some kids may do now with Howell, who has been a counselor at the camp since 1999.

“Being able to go back to camp and be a camp counselor and plant the same seeds planted in my life is a really honor and real privilege,” Howell said.

“I thank God to this day, even though I was handed a bad deck of cards in the beginning, everything turned out a lot better.”

In recent years, Howell has established a relationship with his biological father, Paul.

When Howell couldn’t make it for the full week of camp last year, he worked it out so he could be there at least one day.

His father accompanied him.

“It’s really cool he was able to figure out his life and be a part of mine,” Howell said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Tour de OC, 100-, 55- and 25-mile bike rides

WHERE: Vanguard University

55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa

WHEN: 7 a.m. Saturday

WHY: To benefit abused and neglected children

COST: There is a $40 fee for the 100- and 55-mile rides that require at least a $150 pledge. The 25-mile ride is $25 with a $75 pledge.

For more information, visit www.tourdeoc.org

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at [email protected].