OCLA’s July Newsletter! – Pictured here is Kevin Mendes, OCLA’s SLA Outreach staff, who was proud to Join Compton at their May Resource Fair! Click to read more about OCLA recent events and accomplishments!
Journey Out
Our clients receive essential basic needs like hygiene products, new clothes, flip flops, food, and gift cards through our Drop In Center every day. We value their privacy so we just wanted to take a minute to express their thanks to you. They are grateful for everything we are able to give them with your help! 
Friends Of Mark Twain Middle School – Seeds To Plate Program
Each week, teachers at Mark Twain Middle School bring their students to our on-campus garden to apply their classroom lessons to interactive garden and food activities. For many students, their experience in our half-acre garden at this LAUSD Title I school is their primary connection to nature and healthy food.
Students aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty and understand how their classroom material relates to growing and eating nutritious food. We are proud of the community we have created around our small yet beautiful natural space. It’s not rare to see our students wanting to continue working and maintaining the garden during their lunchtime.
If you are interested in starting your own school garden program, please see our toolkit and lesson plans here.
Lessons include making spring rolls in celebration of the Chinese New Year, constructing canals and dams in the context of ancient civilizations, measuring plant growth for math lessons, making cheese in chemistry class, and more. We love working with our teachers to continually update our lessons to match what they are doing inside the classroom, and create a holistic learning experience.
Friendship Foundation
Meet Hugo 
our four-legged FRIEND 
We asked Hugo what he likes most about his job… he answered with “there’s never a ruff day and I pawsitively love my Friends!”
How many likes can we get for therapy dog and man’s best friend @hugo.maxwell2015
Access Books
Access Books received a grant to provide author visits to schools. Author visits are a great way to help kids develop a love for reading and are often an event they will remember for years. Access Books shared this story with us from one of these visits. ” Perhaps the most important and impactful visit was Chris Harris at Anderson Elementary School in Compton. The beloved principal died over break. The school community decided to go ahead with the author visit a few days after the news broke to the school community. Chris is funny, engaging, charming and silly. He is just what everyone needed. Within minutes, students were giggling. Soon, even teachers were laughing. 350 students participated in the visit. They were thrilled when they each received two books to keep. On the way back to class, one student said, “I laughed so much I thought I would fall off my chair!” A teacher approached the Access Books staff member and said, “you have no idea what this meant. Our kids don’t get to meet authors and to have one that was so fun was just what everyone needed.”Sages and Seekers
Sages & Seekers a grant to support their intergenerational program. They strives to combat social isolation and dissolve age-related segregation within our communities, while meeting the universal and compelling need of both young adults and elders to make sense of their lives. This is achieved by the simple art of conversation. Their three programs match up seniors (sages) with high school students (seekers) either in person or online via Zoom. Programs typically last 8 weeks and strive to increase empathy, reduce ageism, build relationship and communication skills and
help to define a sense of purpose.
Recently a Sage passed away a couple months after completing the program. The family had heard so much about her Seeker that they reached out and she spoke at the Sage’s memorial. Her description at times surpassed what the family had known or understood about her and gave them a gift of deep reflection of who their relative had been and their relationship with one another.
Down for Dance
Down For Dance is a 2024 grant recipient. You’ll be hearing more about them soon! Wanted to share this interview quickly it’s so good!
Click here to watch the interview!
Kingdom Causes Bellflower
We love our Housing Support Group crew! 
Twice a month, we create a safe and welcoming space for our friends who have bravely overcome homelessness. We share stories, laughter, and support one another.
And guess what? We need YOUR help to make these gatherings even more special! We believe that delicious food brings people closer, and that’s where you come in!
Consider buying or making dinner for our meetings! 
It’s a small act of kindness that goes a long way in creating a warm and nourishing environment for our community.
It’s a small act of kindness that goes a long way in creating a warm and nourishing environment for our community.Whether you’re a culinary genius or just starting out in the kitchen, your contribution matters! Don’t worry about fancy gourmet meals—anything from a home-cooked dish to takeout from your favorite local restaurant will be greatly appreciated. After all, it’s the love and thought behind it that truly counts!
If you’re interested in making a difference and bringing smiles to the faces of our incredible community members, drop a comment below or send us a DM. Together, we can create a ripple of compassion that transforms lives!
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Fringe Benefits Theatre
Lisa Jo Epstein–one of our CT4CT Master Class Presenters–just shared some great news: 
“I’m super excited to share that my article, ‘Democracy is in the Making: Just Act’s Model for Rehumanizing Community Engagement’ will be one of 16 chapters in ‘Democracy as Creative Practice: Weaving a Culture of Civic Life,’ edited by Tom Borrup and Andrew Zitcer, long-time champions and observers of community-based creative and cultural practices. Given that I have never written about the past 33 years of working as a social practice applied theatre artist and facilitator, I decided that I would post excerpts from my article as a kind of sneak peek, testing the waters so to speak for a blog. Here’s how Tom and Andrew describe my article in their abstract:
“I’m super excited to share that my article, ‘Democracy is in the Making: Just Act’s Model for Rehumanizing Community Engagement’ will be one of 16 chapters in ‘Democracy as Creative Practice: Weaving a Culture of Civic Life,’ edited by Tom Borrup and Andrew Zitcer, long-time champions and observers of community-based creative and cultural practices. Given that I have never written about the past 33 years of working as a social practice applied theatre artist and facilitator, I decided that I would post excerpts from my article as a kind of sneak peek, testing the waters so to speak for a blog. Here’s how Tom and Andrew describe my article in their abstract:‘In this chapter, the author reflects on her journey leading Just Act, an applied theatre, arts and story-based catalyst for healing, change and activism to build a just world. Inherent in Just Act’s work is a critique of community engagement as traditionally practiced in urban planning and public policy. Community engagement, by emphasizing inclusion without belonging, without a commitment to social justice, views residents as beneficiaries rather than active leaders and deciders. By contrast, Just Act orients its work from an arts-and justice-informed paradigm. This chapter chronicles the author’s innovative work planning with community residents for the renovation of a youth and senior recreation center in Philadelphia, PA. Throughout, the chapter meditates on democracy as an evolving, embodied process, rather than an end goal.'”
Kids and Horses Inc.
Kids & Horses was founded in 1999 by local businessman Sam Waldman and his wife Lorri to enhance the physical and mental well-being of children and adults who suffer from autism, cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome and other developmental disabilities. Sam was an early-adopter of utilizing horses as a means for helping individuals with disabilities. They turned their own Double W Ranch in Minden into a center dedicated to helping people with disabilities and quickly attracted the enthusiastic support of friends, family and the community. When Mr. Waldman passed away, Lorri along with a devoted board of directors, staff, volunteers and the families resolved to carry on.
Sam Waldman was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and was a graduate of the NYU School of Finance. He started out in a small accounting firm. He then joined Airco Industrial Gases, where he was employed for 30 years, until he retired in 1991. BOC bought Airco in 1979 and Sam went on to be its comptroller. He spent 10 years in Japan and the Pacific Rim before settling in Incline Village. Waldman was heavily involved in the business life of the area. He was the owner of Bowl Incline, Kings Beach Car Wash and Incline Car Wash and Storage, and a member of numerous community organizations, including the local Citizen Advisory Board and Chamber of Commerce, where he was a past president. Waldman and his wife Lorri, who were married for 41 years, came to Incline Village in 1986, and bought Bowl Incline two years later. He served as an Improvement District trustee for one term in 1995-1998. IVGID Risk Manager Mike Pennacchio said that among his outstanding achievements while a trustee was to take the lead in the District’s strategic plan, the management audit and the reorganization of the District. “He was the main fiscal person on the board,” said Pennacchio. “He had lots of business and financial sense.”
Despite his busy work life, he nevertheless found time for charitable deeds. “Sam was a very rare person,” said long-time friend Doug Brimm, owner of Austin’s Restaurant. “I considered Sam a leader in this town, a man of substance. He not only created lots of jobs and supported the business community, but he cared about people, and devoted a lot of his personal time to helping them. “In my opinion,” he said, “his most recent important achievement was his Kids and Horses program in Minden, at his ranch. I thought it was one of the most wonderful organizations I’ve ever heard of. When we opened a new restaurant in Reno, we had a fundraiser and were able to donate $17,000 to Sam’s program.” Waldman, an avid horseman, patterned Kids and Horses after the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association children’s program. He felt that riding horses helped build the self-confidence of handicapped children and let them experience the freedom of horse riding. He felt strongly enough about it that he started it with his own funds. “What’s more enjoyable than seeing kids and a horse?” he said of the program. “… when you look in the faces of those children who are on top of the horses, they are smiling.” For this work, Waldman was named as 2000’s Humanitarian of the Year by the 30th Annual Community Awards organization in Carson City. Sam Waldman died at age 65 at his home in Incline Village on October 30, 2000, after having been diagnosed the previous August with cancer. – North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, November 2000 photo by Abe Harbatkin.
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