Here you'll find articles chronicling the past six years of SAMPLE, from its birth on a shoestring budget of only $200 to its expansion to two sites and two program directors.

Note: If this imposes any sort of copyright violation, we will glady take down these articles at a moment's notice.

Note: The original web version of this story is on Channel 2's official site. Thanks to Valerie for telling me about this site!

STUDENTS, MENTORS ATTACK GRAFFITI: Youths fixing community one paint stroke at a time

LOS ANGELES, Posted 3:45 p.m. July 27, 1997 -- Graffiti. It's a common sight when driving around Los Angeles.

But some Southern California youths are doing what they can to clean it up, reports CBS 2 News Julia Yarbough. These third through sixth graders from the South Bay are all part of the SAMPLE program, which stands for Social Action within a Multicultural Program in Language Enrichment.

"After teaching them about gangs and violence and people who destroy the community," program mentor David Sherwood told CBS 2 News. "We teach them how to fix the community,"

For six weeks this summer, high school seniors like Sherwood will be matched with elementary students, according to CBS 2 News.

"Starting from the time when they're really young, we teach them to be aware of their environment and community," another mentor, Alice Huang, told CBS 2 News.

Painting is tough and very messy work when you're pint-sized. But according to CBS 2 News' Julia Yarbough, program participants say a little dirt, grime and hard work is well worth the effort.

"We actually trying to help, and we're actually trying to make a difference," youth volunteer Alex Devritto told CBS 2 News.

""They're covered with paint, but they know at the end of the day that they actually did something good for the community," Sherwood added. "They can walk home and tell mom and dad, 'I made our community a better place.'"

The students don't spend all their time just erasing graffiti. According to CBS 2 News' Julia Yarbough, the youngsters are also involved in other community projects such as feeding the homeless, helping the elderly, taking cultural fieldtrips and beautifying the area.

The SAMPLE program was organized in 1992 after the riots, CBS 2 News reported. It has since helped over 500 area students.

SAMPLING A TASTE OF LIFE: Summer program encourages children to learn about themselves by helping others

By Jasmine Lee, Staff Writer

There is no such thing as a free lunch, but third-to sixth-grade students can get a taste of life at no charge.

A free six-week summer program--Social Action within a Multicultural Program in Language Enrichment, known simply as SAMPLE--encourages children to learn about themselves by helping others.

During the course of the summer, about 25 students will learn how to become involved in the community and in the world.

This Saturday, a group will work with a troop of local Girl Scouts to conduct a vacant lot clean-up in the area along Plaza Del Amo near Western Avenue in Harbor City. Other scheduled activities include making lunches for the homeless, graffiti clean-up projects and field trips to cultural museums.

The program's counselors work with students individually, working on letters to politicians, news releases and group discussions about issues they care about and how to make people aware of what they are doing about those issues.

"You can talk about the problems, but you don't feel the reward uneless you go out and perform the activity," said David Sherwood, executive director and one of the founding members of the program. "It's about going beyond talk and putting it into action."

The 6-year-old program, which has no political, religious, or ethnic bias, doesn't force the students to think a certain way or to try to conquer the heaviest issues, Sherwood said.

Sherwood said he and the counselors simply want to plant a seed of awareness and action in the students.

"That's what we're striving for," Sherwood said. "We don't want the kids to break down and cry or anything... We're not oging to solve any big problems. We just start from the bottom up."

The nonprofit organization, which relies on the generosity of the Lomita/Harbor City Kiwanis Club and the local school districts for a place to meet, is hoping other organizations and corporations will help the program.

"One thing we're looking for is getting adopted by a corporation," Sherwood said. "It doesn't take a lot of money to run [SAMPLE]. If we had the funding, we could go citywide in two years--we could have 50 sites."

The 24-year-old Harvard graduate, who works as a management consultant in New York during the rest of the year, lives in Palos Verdes during the summer while he works for the organization. He relies on a program director and a staff of counselors to run the three-day-a-week program.

Counselors must undergo rigorous screening during the interview process. Once chosen, they must make a large commitment of time, energy, and caring. The high school students don't seem to mind. They consider it almost a favor to them work for the organization.

"I like working with the kids and this is the best opportunity for me," said 15-year-old Becky Cohen, a junior from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School.

One former counselor took what she learned over one summer and started her own service group at her high school.

"They are the cream of the South Bay," said Sherwood who hopes that the students will do the same and become future leaders.

"It just spreads, and that's how we're going to change things."