Dear Brendan Sailing Community,
As we move through fall, we’re grateful to share the wonderful events that have been bringing our Brendan Sailing family together! This past month, we had a successful time at the Annapolis Boat Show, thanks to the dedicated volunteers who joined me at the booth. Their support helped us share Brendan Sailing’s mission with even more people. A heartfelt thank you to each of you for your time and enthusiasm!
We also recently mailed out our annual appeal, sharing stories of our impact with everyone. And right now, we’re thrilled to announce that METCOR is offering a special double matching campaign for Learning Disabilities Awareness Month. With METCOR’s generous match, our goal is to raise $37,500 – and thanks to the incredible support so far, we’re already 46% of the way there! There’s still time to make a donation and amplify your impact, so every gift goes three times as far toward empowering youth with learning differences to grow their self-confidence.
Another recent highlight was the beautiful Woodwind Cruise we enjoyed with our campers and their families in September. There’s nothing like being on the water together to celebrate the confidence, joy, and friendships that being a part of the Brendan Sailing family brings.
Your support continues to make all of this possible, and we are so thankful for each of you. If you haven’t yet, please consider joining us in the double match campaign – together, we’re building life-changing experiences for youth with learning differences.
With gratitude and warm wishes,

Jane Millman
Executive Director
Brendan Sailing

​

At this year’s Fall sailboat show, we shared Brendan Sailing’s mission with thousands of visitors who stopped by our booth daily.  Our volunteers, who included campers and their families, spent 5 action packed days in the booth talking about their experience at camp and introducing the Brendan Approach to guests from all across the country.  A special thank you to Ryan Blomeley, Michael Blomeley, Beth Berry, Will Rineholt, Melanie Doucette, Magy Gibbons, Aidan Ference, David Li, Lili Tian, Gabi England, Jeff England, Griselda Baquedano, Marc Apter, and Syd Millman for all their hard work during the show.  We’re looking forward to doing it all again for the spring show!

​

On Sunday September 8th, we had the opportunity to take Brendan Sailing campers and their family member sailing on the Woodwind schooner here in Annapolis. We had the most beautiful morning with a crisp fall breeze and the bluest sky you can imagine. There was a photographer onboard to take photos of the campers and their experience while sailing, please enjoy the photos he took along with some that I took in the album linked below. ​

​A big thank you to Brendan Sailing Board Member Susan O'Brien and her husband Mark for joining us! It was wonderful to connect with the campers and their parents again and I was able to ask them a few questions in how they feel Brendan Sailing has made an impact on their child. Their responses were wonderful and echoed from family to family, that Brendan Sailing has made such a positive impact in their child with learning differences. Whether it was the newfound independence from our St Mary's overnight camp or the friends their child made while at the Annapolis camp and seeing their child's face light up when they saw their friend was onboard the Woodwind on that Sunday. It was a really cool experience to see the campers open up and start talking with one another after the initial ice breaker of hosting the mainsail by three of our campers. By the time we pulled back into the dock, every camper that wanted to drive the schooner was able to and the joy on deck was palpable.  
 
Enjoy the photos and we look forward to more camper meet-ups in the future.

​
​

​Hello Brendan Sailing families and supporters!

Brendan Sailing has had an incredible summer with many things to celebrate. With a record number in attendance this year and a full waitlist for each Annapolis camp, Brendan Sailing is showing the community that we are leading the way in helping youth with learning differences build their self-confidence and independence. The weather this summer was just what a sailor is looking for; sunny, blue skies and plenty of wind to power our sails each day. Our fantastic instructor team was on site everyday to help our campers learn the basics of sailing and succeed through our hands-on teaching and demonstrations. At our St Mary’s camp, we saw beautiful friendships form and campers' social and sailing skills grow daily. My favorite memory from this summer has to be the Parent/Family Sail Day. On the last day of each session, our campers took parents and family members sailing to show them all that they have learned while at camp. The smiles on everyone's faces and the determination in each camper’s eyes told the story of their growth and confidence they found while learning how to sail. 

We are extremely grateful to Brendan Sailing’s supporters, who make offering our annual summer programs possible. Thank you to Annapolis Sailing School for graciously letting us operate on their grounds and act as our home base for all of our Annapolis camps. Our thanks also to the Bricks Company and Atlantic Marinas for keeping us hydrated all four weeks with Annapolis Green’s mobile freshwater “Naptown Taps.” A special thank you goes to St Mary’s College of Maryland Waterfront for entrusting Brendan Sailing with their sailboats, powerboats, and wonderful air conditioned classroom. And lastly, we extend a heartfelt thank you to the Kahlert Foundation and the Kathy and Jerry Wood Foundation for their continued support of Brendan Sailing, and for making it possible to provide scholarships to more than 40% of our campers this summer. 

With the summer completed, we have our annual Navigating Symposium on November 2nd and our Annual Awards banquet on January 26th that I hope you and your family will attend. The RSVP links can be found on our website. Stay tuned for some monthly Camper Engagement events to keep the friendships that were forged this past summer alive throughout the school year! 

With a grateful heart, thank you!

Jane Millman
Executive Director
Brendan Sailing

​

Please join us for an Education Symposium for professionals and parents involved with youth with Learning Differences, especially outside of the classroom; teachers, trainers, instructors, therapists, coaches, and students. We will be sharing best practices, present research, discuss state of the art methods, network and learn from one another.

Saturday, November 2, 2024
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
American University, Spring Valley Building
4801 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington, D.C.

$25.00 Admission
​

See the amazing transformation of youth with learning differences in the new video on our program, "The Gift of Brendan Sailing"​

​By Mennatalla Ibrahim,
Special to the AFRO

The American University Institute of Disability and Public Policy recently partnered with the non-profit Brendan Sailing to host the second annual Navigating Differences Symposium on Sept. 9 at the Washington, D.C. school campus.

Brendan Sailing is dedicated to enhancing self-esteem and self-confidence in youth with learning challenges, such as attention deficit disorder (ADD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), through sailing programs in D.C., Annapolis, Md., and St. Mary’s City, Md.

This symposium was aimed at connecting the effective approaches for aiding this population that Brendan Sailing has developed over the years with the findings of researchers and academics in this field.
“The thought was: Let’s have a symposium where we can bring together professionals and academics, as well as occupational therapists, counselors, teachers, parents and participants, and we can all learn from each other,” said Charlie Arms, executive director of Brendan Sailing after the Sept. 9 event. “We’d love to connect with some of the schools that operate and serve this population during the academic year. We’re very open to partnerships and to offering opportunities for schools and programs to attend the symposium, so they can display what they do and really network and connect.”

The symposium was kicked off with a screening of the film “Normal Isn’t Real” by director and producer Krys Kornmeier, which showcases four stories from young adults with learning differences as they navigate success in work and school. 

“Listening to the folks on the film talk about the struggles they had as youth until they really found something they were passionate about and were good at really connects with what we do,” Arms said. “We hope to allow our participants to thrive and see that there are other ways to learn.”

Keiko Shikako, an associate professor at the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University, served as a panelist, discussing some of her research in childhood disability. Her work focuses on building inclusive communities that recognize the human rights of children with disabilities and promotes the participation of children with disabilities in different life roles and activities.This was her first time collaborating with Brendan Sailing, and she said she was impressed with the outcome of the symposium.

“The participants had very pertinent questions and comments,” Shikako said. “It’s great to see everybody so committed to and already doing major work in the field of inclusion for persons with disabilities.”

Shikako’s involvement in the symposium came through longtime colleague Derrick Cogburn, an American University professor who also serves on the Brendan Sailing Board of Directors. As the executive director of the university’s Institute on Disability and Public Policy, Cogburn acted as a panelist and co-sponsor of the symposium both this year and last year.

In addition to the five panelists, 25 people attended the symposium, including parents, American University students, occupational therapists, academics, Brendan Sailing alumni and advocates. Though this marked a significant increase from last year’s symposium and encompassed every population they aimed to reach, Brendan Sailing hopes to see this audience exponentially grow in size in the coming years.
​
“For next year, we’d like to at least double [the number of attendees]. We don’t want hundreds of attendees because the whole point of [the symposium] is the interaction aspect, but we had about half as many as we would have liked. That is our goal,” Arms said.
​

​​Brendan Sailing Summer 2023 Newsletter
Volume VI Edition III

In this edition:
Chairman's Message
Executive Director's Message
Summer Camp Programming
Staff Spotlight: Penny Alison
Volunteer Spotlight: Gary Hague
2nd Navigating Differences Symposium
Fall US Sailboat Show 
Review Us!
​

Had an amazing experience at Brendan Sailing Camp this summer?  Share it with the community by posting a Google Review here. 

Questions or need assistance?  Send us a note here.

​“I’m going to sailing school that’s entirely for kids like me,” announces 11-year old Maggie Lee (whose name has been changed for privacy), a bright, rambunctious child who is excited to start sixth grade this fall. Lee will be attending Brendan Sailing, the sailing program offering lessons out of Annapolis, St. Marys, and Washington, DC. for children with learning differences.

This month, Brendan Sailing’s founder—a former president of US Sailing well known on the Bay for his ocean racing feats—was honored with a national award from the U.S. Coast Guard Foundation. James P. Muldoon, a longtime Annapolis sailor, realized years ago that his own son needed a different approach to learning to sail. Brendan Sailing is the result.

Maggie is a perfect candidate for the specialized sailing program.
​
“It’s for kids who have ADHD, dyslexia, and who are on the spectrum, like me,” she says without hesitation or any sense of insecurity...
​