Photos by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Alexis Rodriguez opens her birthday present at Safe Haven in Bedford, a place for children ages 4 to 18 to go to after school.

Rodney Spinner Jr. eats cake during birthday celebrations at Safe Haven. The program celebrates children's birthdays for each month.

Christian Rodriguez, 5, is the first child to arrive at Safe Haven after school. Located in Bedford, Safe Haven is operated by the Red Cross and is also partially funded by the city.

Weekday afternoons there's a stampede of schoolchildren racing from the bus stop to a double-wide trailer in the rear of an apartment complex in Bedford.

Boys and girls lug backpacks through the parking lot of Raintree Village Apartments to Safe Haven. There, healthful snacks, homework help and the program's leader, Miss Camille, await.

Operated by the Historic Virginia Chapter of the American Red Cross, Safe Haven is open after school and during the summer for children ages 4 to 18 living in Bedford and Bedford County.

"Raintree has such a stereotype, they don't want to come," said Youth Services coordinator Camille Steepleton, aka Miss Camille. "It's not a bad place."

Steepleton sees about 25 kids a day in the free after-school program, mostly from low-income families. During the summer months, Safe Haven participates in a USDA food program and provides two hot meals daily for approximately 50 young people. Most, if not all of them, live in Raintree.

The program operates on a shoestring budget and relies heavily on funding from Bedford city -- it's largest cash contributor.

In March, Steepleton and her boss, Red Cross chapter Executive Director Victoria Johnson, asked the city council to provide $15,000 for Safe Haven in the upcoming fiscal year.

City Manager Charles Kolakowski said the upcoming fiscal year budget is being prepared. The city council will consider adopting it sometime in May.

Five years ago Safe Haven received $25,000 from the city. Johnson said the program has received $2,500 to $5,000 less each year since.

Safe Haven's operating budget this year $108,000. About $26,000 comes via in-kind donations. Bedford County Public Schools maintains the exterior of the building and provides electricity and a telephone. Its biggest costs are materials, food and salaries, Johnson said.

Safe Haven also depends on support from civic groups, such as the Kiwanis Club and the Ruritans.

Once a month, Steepleton holds a special event -- Birthday Friday -- to celebrate the children born that month.

"I've always felt like it was important to have that one day to celebrate," she said.

The Bedford Kiwanis provide funding for a present for each child and a birthday cake each month. In April, there were five birthdays, which meant Steepleton had to stretch the funds. She had only $5-6 to spend on the gift for each child.

"This might be their only gift they get for their birthday," said Melody Harrison, a Raintree resident and Safe Haven's assistant coordinator.

Mercedes St. John, 12, was one of the five children who celebrated a birthday in April.

"I think they care about me," Mercedes said. "They care about me a whole lot."

Most of the children who come to Safe Haven attend Bedford Primary School, Bedford Elementary School and Bedford Middle School.

Older kids usually do their own thing after school, Steepleton said. Occasionally students from Liberty High School participate in special events, such as Birthday Friday.

Safe Haven has a policy where the children come and go at will, but Steepleton requires everyone to sign in.

"I know who is supposed to be where," she said.

If the younger ones want to leave, Steepleton makes them call home first. Then she or Harrison watch the child or walk him or her home.

"I can pretty much see everybody from here," Steepleton said.

Safe Haven began in 1993 from a grant awarded to develop a drug-free program in Raintree, in which drugs, crime and appearances by police once were the norm.

Johnson said there was a time when police were dispatched to the complex more than 1,350 times a year -- an average of 3.7 times a day.

"Raintree now has really cleaned up," Steepleton said. "It was infested with drug dealers. A lot of these children's parents were hooked on that mess."

Steepleton is in touch with the children; she provides structure and guidance the children might not get anywhere else.

The hardest days for her are when the children tell her something in confidence.

"There's so much going on with them," she said. "It annoys me to no end when an 8- or 9-year-old has to worry about how the light bill is going to be paid.

"The worst is when I know I don't have the power to do anything about it."

Steepleton said she gets little support from the parents. Turnover is high among the complex's residents, which makes it difficult to get to know parents and the children.

She would like to be able to take the children on more field trips or outings, she said, but without funding that is impossible.

"There are places we could go," she said. "Five dollars [for a field trip] might not seem like a lot, but some of these parents might be choosing between sending the money to school or buying food.

"And what about the family that has two or three kids? That is $10 or $15. Charging for us is just not an option."

The parents, mostly single mothers, are working in fast food or other low-paying service jobs and cannot afford much, she said.

Safe Haven receives schools supplies from the Bedford Resource Center each fall if there are any left over, but there are always other needs.

"Right now we are out of pencils," Steepleton said.

She took over the program eight years ago. She said she saw never herself working with children, but once she got to Safe Haven she knew the children needed her.

On a recent afternoon two girls arrived from the bus stop. One said, "Miss Camille, I had another bad day."

The other told Steepleton, "So-and-so got in a fight today at school."

Samantha Alldredge, 11, said she would go home and "do nothing" if she didn't come to Safe Haven after school. "It is the heart of Raintree," she said.

Steepleton also offers encouragement and motivation.

Some of the children who attend Safe Haven finish high school; many in the community do not.

"A lot of them were not even thinking about college," Steepleton said. "I start hitting them up in eighth grade, 'What are your plans for college?' "

Some have gone on to college or joined the military. They stop in to visit her when they return to Bedford. Others work full-time jobs.

"I think the biggest challenge is people don't understand what we do there and the need it fills," Johnson said. "They don't see in the long term we help the children become productive citizens."