BRENDA'S MEMORY LIVES ON IN A.V. YOUTH GROUP.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

LAKE LOS ANGELES - Maryann Atherton has opened her heart and her home to Lake Los Angeles teens, hoping to give them an alternative to sex, drugs and alcohol.

She hosts a Saturday outreach program at her home in memory of her daughter Brenda, who died nearly two years ago in a car crash four days after her 12th birthday.

Brenda's Community Outreach Group began small in January with mainly friends of Brenda but has grown to an average of 20 kids a week meeting in Atherton's large family room.

``I've thought, how healthy is this for me to do it? But it gives me something which I didn't have. Before I started this I had nothing. I was in depression, I was doing nothing ... I need a challenge in life, I need to have a purpose ... I feel like I have a purpose now again,'' said Atherton.

Brenda died Aug. 4, 2001, when Atherton didn't see a red light on an Oxnard street during a family trip. A pickup truck hit their car where Brenda was sitting in the front passenger seat, killing her instantly. Her older brother and younger sister survived with minor injuries.

Atherton still goes to the corner in Oxnard to leave flowers.

But more importantly, she started the youth group that Brenda had been pushing her mom, a former Brownie troop leader and a youth sponsor at her church, to start before her death.

``I was so afraid at that point that I was like lost, you know, and I wasn't going to have any purpose,'' Atherton said. ``It wasn't but a couple of weeks later that I thought, no, there is more of a reason now to do it. We need to reach these youths.''

``She's living on and there's a reason why this happened to her. We're not trying to keep Brenda alive but this is a good purpose,'' Atherton said. ``It wouldn't have started without this happening ... not like it is.''

Open to anyone age 12 to 17, the group meets from 1 to 6 p.m. every Saturday.

The teens have gone on field trips to the beach, participated in the Cinco de Mayo parade in Lake Los Angeles, held barbecues, and have secret pals. In the future, Atherton hopes to bring in experts to talk to the teens about problems like drug, alcohol and sexual abuse.

The teens are in charge of planning events. For a spring festival at Lake Los Angeles Park, Atherton took the kids to the store, gave them the money and had them decide what supplies to purchase.

Atherton's ultimate goal is to become a licensed nonprofit organization and open a teen center in Lake Los Angeles that would be open six days a week - afternoons on school days and all day Saturdays.

After spending time in a foster home when she was 12 due to abuse by a relative, Atherton understands how important it is that children of this age have an alternative to drinking and taking drugs.

``There are a lot of kids in this area that have foster parents or there's no parents at home at all ... so they're subjected to temptation, lots of different temptations,'' explained Atherton. ``I was one of those kids. You would have never caught me in a group like this ... because I'd already gotten caught at 10, 11 years old in that abusive lifestyle. My heart knows these kids and I've seen already that they're drifting.'' For more information, call [phone].

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Photo:

Maryann Atherton holds a picture of her daughter Brenda, who was killed in a car crash.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer