Bryan Holley has a name for BISM: the best kept secret in town. As a member of the BISM Board of Trustees, he’s working to make sure it doesn’t stay that way.
Prior to his time on the BISM Board of Trustees, Holley spent 31 years at Entenmann’s Bakery. For 18 of those years he worked in sales, until he began losing his sight. He spent the rest of his career in a warehouse as a bulk loader.
Around the time his vision started to change, he began hearing BISM’s name on the radio during Orioles games. But it stayed in the background until he retired.
“I’d only heard about this service, Blind Industries and Services of Maryland,” he said. “Until one day my wife took me to the program. Two days after I retired.”
Holley enrolled in our Seniors Achieving Independent Living (SAIL) program in August 2016. He quickly became a leader among his peers, eventually serving as president of the SAIL senior support group. Even as a student, one thought kept coming back to him.
“I always said to myself, BISM is the best kept secret in town,” he said. “You can do so much, but nobody knew too much about BISM.”
That concern, along with a push from a good friend, led him to the board.
“I’m amazed,” he said. “There’s a lot of blind folks out there, a whole lot of blind people, who don’t know about this.”
Since joining, the progress he is proudest of is exactly that: BISM gaining recognition. He has worked alongside BISM’s development team to get the word out through social media, the press, and the method he trusts most.
“Word of mouth,” he said.
When asked what makes BISM so important, Holley didn’t hesitate.
“This might sound crazy, but it’s just so helpful. The training and the teaching can be very helpful for those who want to still live an independent life.”
He argues that the work BISM does pushes back on the most common, and harmful, misconception people have about blindness.
“That the blind can’t do anything,” he said. “That we are helpless.”
Holley sees that misconception dismantled across all of BISM’s programs, from SAIL to the Comprehensive Orientation Rehabilitation Empowerment (CORE) Program to youth services. He recently attended the Gold STAR graduation, where he sat in the audience and struck up conversations with the families around him. The parents were thrilled with what their children had gained, and one made a point of asking him to pass a message along to the board that BISM had been a godsend.
For Holley, moments like that are the reward.
“When we put our programs out there and see small steps getting done,” he said, “that’s a big achievement.”
Looking ahead, he is most excited about momentum.
“We are moving forward in the right direction,” he said. “BISM is actually getting out there, and folks are saying, ‘Oh, that’s what BISM is all about.'”
And for anyone thinking about getting involved, his advice is simple: come see it for yourself.
“When people come in for the first time, they get excited. They can’t believe what blind folks can do,” he said. “BISM can really help blind people in all phases, from youth all the way up to seniors. Come take a tour and see about this. It’ll open your eyes.”
