Then the 31-year-old single mother lost her apartment in May after failing to pay the rent.

Tired of moving from one friend's house to another, she and Mylles ended up at Willow Glen­based InnVision, a nonprofit organization that serves as an emergency shelter for the homeless and gets people back on their feet.

During the school year, Marilyn could go to interviews or job fairs while Mylles was in school. But when summer began, finding a place for Mylles to go during the day became a headache. Sending him to summer camp was an unthinkable luxury because of her financial situation. And Mylles couldn't stay at the shelter because it's closed during the day.

Marilyn's worries ended when InnVision arranged a series of activities for children living at its emergency and transitional shelters.

"I am glad that they have a lot of activities," Marilyn said. "I want him to be busy and enjoy the summer."

About 25 homeless children, infants to teenagers, have joined the free summer day camp.

Tammy A. Robertson, InnVision's child development coordinator, said that the hardest thing for homeless children is their parents' precarious situation.

"I want to provide activities that can help them forget their situation for awhile," Robertson said. "Maybe they will think living in a shelter isn't so bad."

The summer day camp Robertson has organized is educational and entertaining.

Throughout the summer, the children can take awareness classes, where they learn health and safety tips. Robertson also invites people with disabilities from the Jack Douglas Center and policemen and firefighters to talk to the children.

Every Wednesday afternoon is water play day. The children jump into inflated plastic pools or run through the whirling sprinklers at the backyard of InnVision's Georgia Travis Center on E. Rosemary Street.

One of Mylles' favorite activities is to go to the San Jose Public Library. The library has a summer reading program in which children gain points for every 15 minutes they read or are read to. Once they accumulate enough points, they can trade for prizes.

Mylles has earned a finger puppet, a toy car chain, a bubble pencil and a small kaleidoscope for the 200 points he has accumulated.

The most popular activity, however, might be the field trip every Friday. The children have been to the History Museum of San Jose, the Children's Discovery Museum, the Tech Museum, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Most of these organizations have offered discount or free tickets to InnVision.

Rashara, 8, said she likes the field trip the most because she seldom goes out.

"I like the Chinese temple in the History Museum of San Jose," Rashara said. "It's real gold."

Rashara has stayed at InnVision's emergency shelter with her mother, Gigi, and 2-year-old brother, Kyrese, for almost two months. They fled to San Jose from Sacramento to escape Gigi's estranged husband, who had been harassing and stalking her.

"I am happy that the day camp helps Rashara with her homework and has many activities," Gigi said.

Gigi goes to InnVision's computer workshops and makes phone calls to search for jobs when Rashara and Kyrese are in the day camp.

The summer camp also functions as a day-care center for infants and toddlers.

Catherine Ollis, 21, said she wouldn't be able to make her alcohol and drug recovery appointments four times a week if InnVision didn't care for her 2-year-old daughter, Amiah-lynn. The day-care service also gives her free time to attend InnVision's drug and alcohol prevention and awareness classes

"I realized that I was an alcoholic because my mother is an alcoholic," said Ollis, who took her first sip of tequila at the age of 14 and had been addicted to alcohol since then.

On a recent Monday afternoon, Robertson took the children to Willow Street Frank Bramhall Park. The children screamed and laughed as they zoomed down the slide or flew high on the swings. They looked no different than the children who live in the nice Willow Glen neighborhood and who were accompanied by babysitters or parents. For a moment, they seemed to forget they were homeless--they were just being kids, having fun.

For more information, contact InnVision at 408.271.0825 or visit its website at www.innvision.org.