You can register to volunteer through our website, www.obkla.org, and you will receive our upcoming open session volunteer dates

For more information on Group, Corporate and School bookings, or to join our ambassador and leadership program please email info@obkla.org

You can learn more about OBKLA at www.OBKLA.org.

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November’s #SageSpotlight is the one and only Clif! We Clif and are so grateful for his contribution as a Sage.

Click here to learn more about Sages and Seekers. 

What is MAPS?

MAPS is a nonprofit organization with a mission to assist young adults with lived experience in California’s foster care system who are interested in advanced degrees. MAPS stands for Mentoring for Academic and Professional Success and the organization provides mentoring for the critical task of preparing the graduate school application. MAPS also presents classes and seminars for former foster youth who want to understand what kind of careers are available if they continue their education and how to become competitive applicants.

MAPS administrators and mentors are a geographically dispersed network of individuals primarily living in California. We work virtually over Zoom, presenting our classes and webinars and meeting with prospective students and mentees. We also coach through phone, text and email.

Journey Out received a grant to 1.) support and help sustain their newly implemented Survivor Advocate program, which employs a Survivor to help train clinicians on identifying victims of human trafficking, as well as provide crisis response and follow up case management services to identified victims of human trafficking at their bedside (in clinical settings); 2.) provide basic need (food, clothing, hygiene products, and PPE) resources to clients, particularly those who we place in transitional housing.  They expect to serve approximately 300 victims of human trafficking over a 12-month period.  The mission of Journey Out is to help victims of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking leave a life of abuse and violence, overcome their fears and empower them to reach their full potential and achieve their goals.  Journey Out received a grant from the Leo Buscaglia Foundation in 2020. 

Click here to learn about more 2022 recipients. 

Dr. A. Richard Grossman was an internationally recognized plastic surgeon and pioneer in the comprehensive treatment of burn wounds. A graduate of Emory University and The University of Tennessee Medical School, his post-graduate training spanned eight years at Cook County Hospital, where he became Board-certified in both General Surgery and Plastic Surgery.​

In 1958, while serving as the chief emergency room resident at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Grossman treated victims of a catastrophic fire at Our Lady of Angels parochial elementary school, which claimed the lives of 93 children and four nuns. The many of the victims were so badly charred it was impossible to tell if they were girls or boys.

The experience had a profound effect on Dr. Grossman and was a driving force behind his vision to create a world-class comprehensive burn treatment facility dedicated to providing the best burn care anywhere, whose philosophy would be to not just ensure survival, but to restore patients to as close to their pre-injury condition as possible functionally, emotionally and cosmetically.

Dr. Grossman subsequently moved to Los Angeles and set about to achieve that vision. In 1969, he convinced Sherman Oaks Community Hospital, located in a suburb of Los Angeles, to devote two beds exclusively to burn care. By 1978, the burn center had expanded into a free-standing, 30-bed specialty unit that today remains one of the largest and most comprehensive burn centers in the world.

Recognized internationally as a pioneer in burn treatment, Dr. Grossman is responsible for a number of innovative world firsts, such as the use of high-pressure oxygen chambers to speed the healing process and minimize scarring – a therapy which is now standard practice at many burn centers around the world.

Dr. Grossman served as the President of the Los Angeles Society of Plastic Surgeons for eight years, and is a member of many honorary societies (listed in his curriculum vitae). He has authored or co-authored over 35 articles in medical journals, and written or contributed to six textbooks.

He was the consultant for burn reconstruction for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health and has trained staff and consulted on burn centers in Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel.

As a result of the exceptional care he has provided to firefighters from many different agencies over the years, Dr. Grossman was named Honorary Fire Chief for the City of Los Angeles in 1994, and inducted into the Firefighters Hall of Fame by the California Department of Firefighters, two distinctions of which he is especially proud.

Dr. Grossman passed away peacefully on March 13th, 2014 and is survived by his heirs; two sons, Jeffrey and Peter, his granddaughter, Alexis and grandson Nicholas. It is in the spirit of Dr. Grossman’s life that the Grossman Burn Foundation seeks to make a difference in the lives of burn survivors and their families. Dr. Peter Grossman continues to carry on his father’s legacy in the medical community by leading and developing the Grossman Burn Centers on a global level and dedicating his life to helping the burn-injured patient.

Friends of Mark Twain Middle School received a grant to support the Executive Director’s salary for their Seeds to Plate Program.  This will allow the Executive Director to work full time to expand the program to other schools while continuing their efforts at Mark Twain Middle School (MTMS).  The mission of the Friends of Mark Twain Middle School is to enhance and support the programs and facilities at MTMS.  This volunteer organization is comprised of parents, legal guardians, school staff and faculty and community members.  One of their programs is Seeds to Plate, a garden based education program currently serving approximately 750 students.

Click here to learn more about other 2022 recipients.