My Nonprofit Reviews

Hey do you want to learn how to sail!?" shouted a volunteer from the LAMI at the TopSail Festival of Sail booth. Of course, my first response was "what's the catch?". Just a love of the ocean and the wish to volunteer, I was told, so I thought I would check out this LAMI TopSail tall ship youth program. I had recently retired and just moved to this wonderful community of San Pedro. I had been looking for something to feed my soul and this one remark, from this volunteer, "Do you want to learn how to sail?" called out to me. I am so very glad I answered that call. There is no minimum time commitment, no previous experience necessary, and no fee required of volunteers. The only requirement is the passion of working with young people & the love of the sea.
Just what does the Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI) do? Since its founding in 1992, by retired science teacher and sailing program pioneer Captain Jim Gladstone, the mission of the LAMI topsail youth program has been to use sail training to provide youth with real-life challenges that develop knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to live healthy, productive lives! These ships sail with a crew of mariner educators/mentors. They are charged with encouraging and fostering the growth of awareness, cooperation and teamwork. The ultimate goal is for individual responsibility, competency and leadership. All the students are active participants in topsail. There is a call of "all hands to sailing stations!" when it's time to set sail and no one person can do it themselves. It takes six strong bodies just to raise the main sail. Our crew is there to encourage, teach and advise the youngsters to do the work with the kids, not for them. Topsail is more than just a boat ride.

While at sea with LAMI, I have learned what teamwork is, what understanding is, and how good it feels to like what you are doing. The ocean has so much to offer each one of us. You will never know what kind of person you are mentally, physically and emotionally until you go to sea. In this environment of immediacy and adventure, every person aboard is challenged physically, mentally, and emotionally. The relationships between individual rights, power and responsibility come into sharper focus, providing real-life experience in the workings of society. The tall ships have been coordinating with the Los Angeles Unified School District and bringing students on the water who may never otherwise experience such an opportunity. They also work with homeschool programs, private schools or really anyone who just wants to learn to sail!
The educational venue is the ocean, on-board classic rigged 70' sailing vessels. This makes for a unique and challenging environment that nurtures the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes that are both necessary for the education of youth today and difficult to teach in the traditional classroom. LAMI does not train youth for lives at sea, but rather, they use the sea to educate youth in life skills.
Of course, as with all nonprofit organizations in this era of Covid, their funding has been challenged! Yet, they still continue on with these wonderful opportunities with devoted staff and volunteers. In trying to keep this program going, They continue to seek funding in all forms in order to keep this wonderfully amazing program afloat!