“I’m exactly one year older than the organization.”
For some people, generosity is a way of life. For Angela Brown, that desire to help began when she was very young. “You learn from your parents,” she says. And her father was a friend of Wayfinder’s founder, Norm Kaplan. So, in 1953, when he first opened an organization for children with blindness, her father and mother both got involved. It was the start of a long family tradition of supporting Wayfinder.
And Angela, even at a young age, wanted to follow in her parents’ footsteps.
A legacy of caring
“My first memory is sitting at a Ringling Brothers Circus with a blind child on either side of me. I was about 10 or 11 then. My task was to describe what was going on in the three rings, in detail, so the other children could understand. These were kids who just didn’t see as well as I did.”
She also remembers being shown a watch with a bezel that could be opened so that someone could touch the time. That sensitivity to how other children might navigate the world stayed with her.
Angela’s mother, Vera Brown, became well known for her popular spa. She had celebrities she could call on to help with her favorite charity. She would invite young women who were blind from Wayfinder’s programs to the spa for some pampering.
Angela carries the work forward
Eventually Angela joined her mother at the spa, first running the business and then becoming an esthetician herself. She also volunteered in Wayfinder’s after-school program, where 1st-3rd grade students with disabilities were teamed with kids from a nearby school. The children got an after school snack and helped each other with homework. Then, they broke into groups. One group did crafts, the other, yoga, dance or stretching.
Angela loved to see them bloom. And then, she became involved with the moms of children with blindness. She built a spa on our campus that moms would visit. Staff would watch the kids. And the mothers would enjoy well-deserved pampering, community and relaxation.
These mothers, and many others involved with Wayfinder, became special to Angela. “I love working with the moms. They are my heroes. So many of them are told that their baby may never walk or talk or do things that other children do, and they just don’t give up on them. They work closely with their therapists to help their children defy all expectations—and it is thrilling to witness their babies thriving.”
Angela’s lasting gift
In addition to volunteering and making an annual gift for many years, Angela has included Wayfinder in her will. She wants to be sure that the work she has cared about all her life will continue. Wayfinder is a family tradition now!
“This organization is just too wonderful. And it was always a joy to do something to give back in some way.”
You can also make a lasting gift to Wayfinder. And it’s not difficult to do! Every legacy gift of any size provides long-term financial support that will sustain Wayfinder’s life-changing programs for decades to come.
Your legacy will be visible in every child or adult with vision loss who increases their independence, each foster child who thrives, all the families who adopt children, and every young person who gets their life back on track through mental health therapy.
And we’ll happily help you! Please contact Randy Sprabary at (323) 290-6290 or rsprabary@wayfinderfamily.org if you’d like more information.
When you’re ready to begin your legacy planning, Wayfinder Family Services has partnered with GivingDocs
to offer a FREE suite of estate planning tools to our supporters! You can get started here:
www.wayfinderfamily.org/yourplan.
May 19, 2025