Debra Frenkel
Sailor of the Week: April 8 - 14
As soon as Debra Frenkel learned how to sail, she started using her new favorite sport to help others live life to the fullest.
Just over ten years ago, Debra learned to sail with the Chicago Park District Rainbow Fleet. She enjoyed it so much that while she was learning, Debra began volunteering with the disabled sailing program. By the end of the summer, she was hired to help run the program for the end of the season. The following season, she returned to manage the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing Program, and the year after she managed all of the Chicago Park District Sailing Programs. Debra stayed involved year round. In the winter, she was involved in volunteering with other disabled sailing programs and traveled to a number of disabled sailing regattas.
Debra is now the executive director and co-founder of the Freedom Waters Foundation (FWF), a non-profit organization, with locations in Ft. Lauderdale and Naples, Fla., that provides boating opportunities for people with disabilities, life threatening illnesses, youth at risk, and others with special needs. They host a number of programs, including “Weller Days”, named after co-founder and cancer survivor, John Weller. The program was originally created to provide yacht outings for children with cancer and their families. They began in October of 2004 and are now serving numerous children with special needs and their families, in three South Florida counties: Collier, Palm Beach and Broward. The program also serves adult groups such as blind veterans and senior assisted living residents.
The adaptive sailing programs are in partnership with Collier County Parks and Recreation. They cooperatively host regattas specifically designed for individuals with disabilities. “We show those with disabilities the joy and freedom of being in command of your own vessel out on the water,” Debra said.
The experiences she gained from traveling to and learning about disabled sailing regattas really paid off. Debra looks forward to her role as chairperson for the 2010 U.S. Disabled Sailing Championships in December at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club (Fla.).
Debra looked back at a memorable moment in which she made a difference in someone’s life, while using the freedom of sailing to do so. She met a woman by the name of Jan, who was in her early 60s, and spent most of her life in a wheelchair following a bout with Polio at the age of two. After she accomplished her first solo sail, Jan wrote a poem that expressed how moved she was about this new experience.
Sailing into Freedom
For the greater part of life
I lived in a world of limits & boundaries.
Being confined within a challenged body,
I could but wonder what freedom felt like.
From the very first solo-sailing,
I became the allness of freedom.
With the freedom of motion across the water,
I quickly sailed into the freedom of my heart.
There I became the lyrics of an unsung song,
and the motion of a dance
that was waiting to happen.
Sailing introduced me to
'freedom, within & without'!
When I am sailing
I am one with the water & Earth,
and I am still invited to be myself!
For the greater part of life
I lived in a world of limits & boundaries.
Being confined within a challenged body,
I could but wonder what freedom felt like.
From the very first solo-sailing,
I became the allness of freedom.
With the freedom of motion across the water,
I quickly sailed into the freedom of my heart.
There I became the lyrics of an unsung song,
and the motion of a dance
that was waiting to happen.
Sailing introduced me to
'freedom, within & without'!
When I am sailing
I am one with the water & Earth,
and I am still invited to be myself!