The SAMI Foundation: Turning Pain into Purpose

Published October 27, 2025

By Michele Raphael

A little more than a year has passed since Carla and Rodney Liber lost their 16-year-old daughter, Sami, in a tragic ATV accident during a family vacation in Wyoming. A promising young artist, Sami was passionate about drawing, painting, photography and music. Her passions inspired the Libers to channel their grief into launching the Los Angeles-based SAMI Foundation.

SAMI empowers local teens to pursue the arts by providing art supplies to underserved youth programs and schools across L.A., funding scholarships for young artists and sponsoring workshops. In just one year, the foundation has formed meaningful partnerships with Los Angeles Academy for Artists and Music Production, Altadena Arts Magnet, KIPP Public Charter Schools, United in Harmony, Baby2Baby, UCLA Health, OxyArts, the Salvation Army Bessie Pregerson Preschool and more.

“This has been an unimaginable year, and we miss Sami so very much,” Carla says. “The foundation gives us a way to manage our grief by helping children bring more beauty into the world just like Sami did. Someone recently told us, ‘If there is a why, there is a how,’ and that has stayed with us. Sami’s older sister, Ava, has shown incredible resilience. She graduated high school with honors and is now in her freshman year at the University of Miami. As a family, we lean on each other and find strength in carrying Sami’s spirit forward.”

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