This summer marks the exciting addition of Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles (JBBBSLA) to our growing list of partners across California. For more than 98 years, JBBBSLA has enriched the lives of thousands of children throughout the greater Los Angeles area by providing professionally-supported mentoring and services for youth regardless of a family’s ability to pay. For the past 20 years, JBBBSLA has provided one of the largest outdoor summer camp options for low-income youth in the LA area called Camp Max Straus and as students develop and grow into outdoor leaders they participate in the Witherbee Wilderness Backpacking Program.
This year Outward Bound California (OBCA) will partner and lead these 7 expeditions throughout June, July and August with over 75 students in Big Basin Redwood State Park and Courtright Reservoir in the High Sierras. The strong educational alignment between OBCA and JBBBSLA insures that students will come away from their courses with an ethic of service, self-awareness, resilience, respect for the natural world, and compassion that are the hallmarks of all our programming. With 4 rounds of students already back from their adventures we are already seeing the impact.
Ben Lerman, an Assistant Instructor on two of the Witherbee courses has this to say about working with Witherbee youth:
“The coolest outcome is the transformation students make–from being surprised about the level of physical challenge and autonomy we gave them to being excited about their various responsibilities. Most kids don’t have the chance to dictate their own lives, and when given the opportunity, they rose to the challenge.”
You can see photographs from Ben’s expedition here!
Outward Bound California is growing! We work with schools, non-profits, camps, and companies and have programs for student in 6th grade to adulthood. To find out more about our programming or take a course yourself, check out our courses HERE. For group, school, or corporate programs contact Emma Rapp, Marketing and Outreach Manager at [email protected] or 828-239-2388.
