Eileen Sandberg

Eileen Sandberg

Eileen Sandberg has loved horses as long as she can remember.  Her family owned a horse and she took lessons and rode often as a child and teenager. Eileen moved to Chicago for college, and riding became an occasional vacation event.

Eileen has 5 young adult children, and when they were young she balanced her career and doctoral studies with parenting and advocating for her kid's special needs.  Now, Eileen  is a Director at the Federation for Special Needs, where she works with state-funded programs and teaching parents to navigate special education.

In 2018, Eileen and her family bought a house in West Tisbury after decades of summer vacations on the Vineyard.  In 2019, Eileen began volunteering at Misty Meadows as a horse leader, bringing her love of horses and experience as a special needs parent.  In her first horse-leader orientation, Eileen was paired with Noble, and it was love at first neigh.

In 2022, Eileen began riding lessons again after more than 40 years, and joined the board of Misty Meadows.  Eileen is passionate about helping Misty to sustain and expand its programming, particularly to Island residents who may not have other access to the many benefits of living and working with horses. 

Eileen says, "Misty is an incredibly special place.  The connections and healing between the horses, staff, volunteers and students is amazing to see and experience, and hard to put into words.   I have learned so much, about horse care and especially about how horses communicate with us.  Misty has enriched my life so much, and I'm honored to be a board member and help the organization move forward."