The Harold Robinson Foundation is a grassroots charity completely made up of volunteers. Our Board of Directors work for free and are dedicated to making a difference in our underserved communities. Each board member has graciously donated a significant amount of time and effort to ensure the success of our fundraising events, camp retreats, community events, and the overall success of our foundation.
Jeff received a BA in Communications from the University of Arizona in 1984. Jeff has had over 18 years experience as a partner in a successful family distributorship where he served as sales, purchasing, and marketing manager. Jeff is one of the founding members of the Beverly Hills Basketball League and served as a board member for Camp Harmony, a non-profit organization that provides camp experiences to homeless youth. Jeff acquired the Canyon Creek Retreat Center in April 2000 and began Canyon Creek Summer Camp in June 2000.
Joyce grew up on the east coast and was able to attend summer camp every year as a result of a charitable organization, The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Joyce credits her summer camp experiences with providing her the opportunity to discover her talents and find the confidence she needed to pursue her dreams. Joyce studied acting in both NYC and LA and has worked as an actor since her early 20’s. She is best known for her starring role in “Just One of the Guys.” and her recurring role in LA Law. In 2012 Joyce turned her focus to writing and producing screenplays.
Bill Thorington is currently semi-retired and resides in Humboldt Co, No. CA. While educated in Biochemistry he spent a career in Banking and Finance.
Bill is one of our Charter Board members (2007), was our Incorporator and secured our 501(c)(3) status. He remains a Court appointed Trustee in various
Trusts and Receiverships, is an author of several Books and is an active member of HRF, serving as its Board Chairman.
Aisha Dillard is a Senior Account Executive at The New T-Mobile and founder of Love and Light Dance. A 17-year veteran of the wireless industry with emphasis in informational technology and business development. Aisha’s expertise is in customer development, combining research with product knowledge. She is responsible for client communications, investment analysis, structuring, and execution.
Prior to joining The New T-Mobile she was a dancer specializing in performance and teaching ballet, jazz, and all forms of movement. A biography that includes a dance career spanning 34 years with an exceptional period with the National Football League. Currently she teaches dance at area schools and child care centers introducing our youngest dancers to the joys of music and different styles of dance. Aisha is a longtime advocate of diversity and inclusion, and a local leader within The New T-Mobile for Women in leadership and mentoring your professionals.
Shelly co-founded a business and creative arts center called Creative Kids. It began by creating neighborhood playgroups and brought music, art, dance, and drama classes into people’s homes. After 3 years of the Mobil playgroup business, she and her partner rented a building in West LA and offered daily classes, camps, and preschool programs.
They also ran a summer camp program for children from 4-12 years old. They partnered with a neighboring gymnastics gym and merged Creative Kids programs together, resulting in a very successful camp program. The curriculum was purchased by Jag Gymnastics in Culver City where they continue to follow the program today.
Shelly has raised two, now adult children, named Henry and Ruby. She lives in Malibu and is an artist.
Joyce grew up on the east coast and was able to attend summer camp every year as a result of a charitable organization, The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Joyce credits her summer camp experiences with providing her the opportunity to discover her talents and find the confidence she needed to pursue her dreams. Joyce studied acting in both NYC and LA and has worked as an actor since her early 20’s. She is best known for her starring role in “Just One of the Guys.” and her recurring role in LA Law. In 2012 Joyce turned her focus to writing and producing screenplays.
Brian Greenbaum is a Senior Music Agent at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Mr. Greenbaum works in the Los Angeles office and represents a broad scope of award- winning musical talent ranging from legendary artists such as Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Ozzy Osbourne and Paul Simon, to alternative/pop artists Modest Mouse, The Replacements, Kate Nash, Troye Sivan, and Grammy Award-winners Sarah McLachlan, T Bone Burnett, and Blake Mills, among others. He has since been nominated four times for Pollstar’s “Agent of the Year” award.
Mark currently serves as the General Counsel and Executive Vice President for California Commercial Investment Group, a national affordable housing and multi family real estate owner and developer located in Los Angeles. Previously, Mark served as General Counsel and in other legal and business roles for Robertson Properties Group and its affiliates companies, ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres. In addition to Mark’s legal practice, he is also a California licensed real estate broker and is currently pursuing his MBA at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. Mark graduated Northwestern School of Law and receive his undergraduate degree in psychology from UC Santa Barbara.
Mark is passionate about sports, nutrition and fitness and is the founder and current CEO of the Ultimate Fantasy Sports Camp, and adult sports camp with locations in Los Angeles and New York. Mark was also a member of the gold medal winning USA Fastpitch softball team at the 2009 World Maccabiah games in Israel.
Michelle Brookman has served as Event Chair for Pedal on the Pier for the past seven years. An avid fitness enthusiast and spinner, she helped the Harold Robinson Foundation conceive their Annual Fundraiser and is involved with all aspects of the event, especially marketing and social media. Michelle is a graduate of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and worked as a residential real estate agent in Beverly Hills for many years. She has been married to Steven Brookman for 27 years and is the mother of two adult daughters, Nicole and Peri.
Nikki Glaspie is among the premier drummers in music today. She has toured the world 2 times with Beyoncé and played drums on the album “4.” She also toured with Maceo Parker, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Martin Luther, and more. Nikki is the founding member of The Nth Power.
Glaspie studied music at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Her mission is to help kids navigate life by teaching them how to express themselves through the power of music.
Scott Budnick is the Founder and President of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. He grew up in Atlanta, GA, and graduated from Emory University in 1999 with degrees in Business and Film. Formerly the Executive Vice President of Todd Phillips’ production company, Green Hat Films, Scott executive produced many successful comedies including the highest grossing rated-R comedies in history, THE HANGOVER series.
Outside of film, Scott is a fierce champion for children in need. Scott is a teacher and serves on the Board for InsideOUT Writers, an organization that aims to reduce juvenile recidivism through the use of creative writing and by providing a range of services to meet the needs of currently and formerly incarcerated young adults. Scott also serves on the Advisory Board for the Loyola Law School Center for Juvenile Law and Policy.
For his work with youth in the criminal justice system, Governor Jerry Brown named Scott California’s Volunteer of the Year for 2012. Scott currently sits on the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) and the Governor-appointed Community Colleges Board of Governors. Most recently, Scott was selected to be a Board Member of President Obama’s newly created foundation, My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.
Amie is a luxury real estate agent practicing in the greater Lake Tahoe area. Amie’s resume is chock-full of her volunteer efforts, including, but not limited to: active board member, community activist, hosting free seminars for first time home buyers, organizing and overseeing many local fundraising events, and chairman for Tahoe City’s Oktoberfest. Amie and her husband, Cliff, along with their two rescue dogs, Chester and Mowgli, call Tahoe Vista home.
Ben Gleib is a standup comedian, podcaster, actor, and TV host. His standup special “Ben Gleib: Neurotic Gangster” is currently airing on Showtime. Ben is a regular on the “TODAY Show” on NBC, and for 4 seasons and over 200 episodes he was host, head writer, and executive producer of the brain-teaser game show “Idiotest” on GSN. He recently hosted a social impact news show for CNN’s Headline News called “ASPIREist” and for 7 years was a regular on “Chelsea Lately” on E! Currently he hosts a podcast called “Last Week on Earth” on which he covers news events from the last week.
Brittany Bronson has been an active and dedicated member of the Harold Robinson Foundation since 2012. She has a background in education and communication, and is currently working in Mental Health Advocacy. Brittany is very passionate about philanthropy and is strongly motivated to raise awareness for Mental Health and support underprivileged youth programming.
In his career as a studio executive and producer, Jay Stern has developed, launched and supervised many movies, including two memorable comedy franchises: the action-comedy franchise “Rush Hour” starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, and the R-rated ensemble comedy franchise “Horrible Bosses”. The two franchises were major worldwide hits, grossing over one billion in box office revenue between them.
After twelve years as a studio executive at Disney and New Line, Stern joined Rat Entertainment in 2001, serving as President and running the day-to-day operations until 2009, as well as producing its movies. In 2009, he co-founded Route One Films, an independent movie production and finance company, where he acted as CEO for five years. He is currently producing movie and television projects under his Boone Entertainment label.
Stern graduated Yale University cum laude in 1981, and lives with his wife Vicki in Los Angeles. His son Eli Stern recently graduated from Princeton University and aspires to be a writer-director
Neal Schore has over 25 years of media experience as a principal and operating executive, and is the founding President and CEO of Triton Digital. Previously, Schore served as Managing Partner and CEO of Midway Marketing Group, LLC, a media advisory firm servicing the private equity community to build, expand, finance and manage media operations throughout the United States. Schore was also the founding President of Brite Media Group, among other entrepreneurial executive positions and is a member of the LA chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO). Schore resides with his wife and three sons in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California.
Julien Levesque has a BA in Political Science from The University of Arizona and a Masters in International Relations from Loyola University of Chicago. After a brief and unfulfilling stint at a law firm post graduation, Julien returned to his true passion: Camp. At twenty years old, Julien had his first experience as a counselor at Canyon Creek Summer Camp, and discovered that he had a natural talent for working with kids. Julien went on to become Head Staff, Assistant Director, and eventually Director, over his nine-year tenure at Canyon Creek. During this time, Julien worked intermittently with the Harold Robinson Foundation as a counselor and fell in love with the foundation and its mission. Now, Julien works in the Film Finance department at CAA pursuing his other dream of making movies. Julien believes in the power of camp to change children’s lives, and is thrilled to be a part of that again through the Harold Robinson Foundation.
Kimberly Beck Clark is a native of Los Angeles. She’s been an actress since the age of two when her first professional job was playing Jimmy Stewart’s daughter in “The FBI Story.” She also played Lucille Ball’s daughter in “Yours, Mine and Ours,” and Glenn Ford’s daughter in “Torpedo Run.” She appeared in “Marnie,” directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and was a series regular on TV’s “Peyton Place” alongside Mia Farrow. In 1988, Kimberly married film and television producer Jason Clark. With his assistance, she traded in her regular role as daughter to become mother to their two boys, Dylan and Miles. Believing you’re never too old to be young, Kimberly is now in college, and in a race to graduate before her Miles does. She currently works as an interior designer.
Angela Failla serves as the Program Director for Camp Ubuntu, which is the flagship program for the Harold Robinson Foundation. Angela believes in the power of Camp Ubuntu and its ability to cultivate unity in communities worldwide. As Program Director, Angela leads planning and management for HRF’s annual fundraiser Pedal on the Pier which raises over $1MM annually. In 2017, Angela was nominated in GO Magazine’s annual “100 Women We Love” feature. With her commitment to the mission of the Harold Robinson Foundation and the drive for impact, Angela will continue to use Camp Ubuntu as a vehicle for change.
Amelia Williamson serves as Management Consultant for the Harold Robinson Foundation. Her role is to advise on organizational strategy, build internal and fundraising capacity and work closely with the executive committee and its Board of Directors. Williamson is CEO & Chief Strategist of AWA is a social impact agency whose mission is building strategic bridges that connect philanthropy, community and influence. Before launching AWA, Williamson served as the President of the Magic Johnson Foundation (MJF).
Cheryl Bonacci is a results-oriented entertainment and non-profit professional with career experience bridging the divide between the community-at-large and the reentry/at-risk populations through collaborative and innovative programs aimed to change the way we see and treat our most marginalized communities. Leveraging extensive experience establishing change, she has served as a founding executive of The Anti-Recidivism Coalition, consulted with organizations launching a new program, going through a cultural change and/or diversifying its employee talent pool. The rare combination of experience, including direct service as a Catholic Chaplain working with children being convicted as adults in California, program/infrastructure development and community engagement, position Cheryl as a highly sought after expert.
Jordy Shinbane has been a part of the Harold Robinson Foundation since 2013, starting as a counselor and now serving as their Social Media Manager. She is extremely passionate about education and supporting underserved youth. Prior to this role she worked with the AmeriCorp Program, City Year, as a Student Success Coach. As a lifelong camp person, Jordy believes in the strong impact camp experiences can have on youth development and is dedicated to ensuring as many students get to experience the magic of Camp Ubuntu as possible.
At Camp Ubuntu, we believe that each one of our children has something to offer, and that none of them, despite where they fall on the socio-economic ladder, are without problems or needs. We believe that we can work together to help heal each other, focusing on cross-cultural learning and understanding how others experience the world. It is with that in mind that we refreshed our Leadership in Training (LIT) program and launched our Youth Advisory Board (YAB) in 2016.
A 501 (C) (3) CHARITY ORGANIZATION
FEDERAL TAX ID # 26-4807035
Mailing Address:
6300 Wilshire Boulevard,
Suite 880
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Curious about the funny looking characters all over our site? We're glad you noticed! They happen to be some of the little creatures from Camp Ubuntu's most popular campfire song, "Moose, Alpaca."
Not all campfire songs make much sense, and this one might be the king of nonsense! A 'repeat after me' song, Moose Alpaca, is sung in crazy, frantic unison of moose, alpacas, and unicorns. Throw in some mustaches, ninjas, and pufferfish, and you have yourself one of our all-time favorite camp songs performed at nearly every campfire and every school visit.