Camp Max Straus (CMS)

The mission of Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles is to assist children primarily from single-parent homes to achieve their full potential through this service delivery mechanism: Jewish Big Brother Big Sister mentoring program. Professionally-supervised relationships between Jewish Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Jewish Children.

In 1938 Jewish Big Brothers established Camp Max Straus which serves underprivileged children who primarily come from single (or substitute) parent homes. The camp assists at-risk children who reside in Los Angeles County and provides them with youth development activities beginning at age seven and continues to provide services to them through the age of seventeen, and beyond. All of the programs offered by the camp are open to children of all races and denominations. In 2003, Jewish Big Brothers began admitting women as Big Sisters.

Other programs offered include a residential summer camp (Camp Max Straus), a backpacking program (The Witherbee Program), a counselor-in-training program, a sports mentoring program (Sports Buddies), and an arts mentoring program (Arts Buddies).