My Nonprofit Reviews

I served aboard the tall ship Lady Washington during the winter of 2008-09, and with our sister ship the Hawaiian Chieftain one of our ports of call was at LAMI in Los Angeles. I say 'port of call' but LAMI became our second home for several weeks during the winter school break. We double-moored before the LAMI offices, both ships together, and those are some of the fondest memories of my life.

LAMI worked with us to bring in the public and the schoolchildren that we served, fed us, threw us roving sailors a beautiful Christmas and New Year's, gave us use of their shower and took us for a spin on the Lexi Johnson when we felt so cooped up in our own ships we were fit to burst. I learned to make a monkey's fist there, how to sing Mingulay. And one of my shipmates was a graduate of LAMI's program, one of the best sailors and one of the best men you could ever hope to know. If he's what LAMI produces...then LAMI isn't just a good organization to work with, or a good organization for sailors, it's a good organization for our country and the world.