Brandon Towle
Executive Director, Camp Words Unspoken: Age 29
Brandon Towle says he’s never let his stutter get in the way of anything he wanted to do, be it earning a degree in business administration at Holyoke Community College or his current work as manager of Rolling Meadows Country Club in Ellington, Conn., or his multiple passions, including golf and collecting sports memorabilia.
“I started to stutter when I was 5, and throughout my schooling, I worked with several speech therapists to live with my stutter,” he said, adding that, with help from those therapists and others, he was able to gain the confidence and courage (both are necessary) to move past his stutter.
And today, he is helping others do the same through a Pittsfield-based nonprofit he founded called Camp Words Unspoken, the first facility of its kind in New England — its name chosen because, with stutterers, many of their words indeed go unspoken.
There, attendees ages 7 to 17 stay for four nights and, through speech therapy, recreational activities, and interaction with others who stutter, gain both self-confidence and self-awareness.
“Many of them feel alone many months of the year, but when they attend Camp Words Outspoken, they feel like a star,” said Towle, adding that attendees gather in ‘speech groups’ to talk about their stutter — and their lives.
“We do so many different activities at camp that make these children and teens feel welcome, but also feel like a shining star, so when they do leave camp, they gain more self-confidence, so they can now do something they’ve never done before,” such as ordering from a restaurant menu, he went on.
Inspired by a camp he attended in the Midwest for teens who stutter, Camp Words Unspoken has become a passion for Towle. Applying lessons learned in an entrepreneurship class at HCC, he handles all aspects of the operation, including marketing, fundraising, recruitment, program and leadership development, special events, and building donor relationships.
And to help families that cannot pay the full camp tuition, he created a fundraising golf tournament. Now approaching its seventh edition, the tournament draws more than 100 players and 36 hole sponsors to support this worthy cause.
As noted, the camp is a passion, but only one of many for Towle, who puts golf in that category, as well as collecting sports memorabilia (he counts a rare Tom Brady signed helmet among his prized possessions) and rooting for Boston’s sports teams.
It’s all part of a packed life — one unimpeded by his stuttering.
—George O’Brien
