Thursday, October 1, 2026
For many families, going out to eat is a routine experience. For Sophie Brennan, anxiety once made sitting through a meal at a restaurant difficult — an experience that later inspired her to make dining out more welcoming for children facing similar challenges.
Brennan, an 18-year-old Baldwin resident and recent Oceanside High School graduate, created 18 sensory kits for local restaurants as part of “Dine and Unwind,” her Girl Scout Gold Award project. The kits are designed to help children with anxiety, autism spectrum disorder and sensory issues navigate potentially overwhelming dining environments.
Each kit includes noise-canceling headphones to reduce background noise, along with sensory toys, coloring pages and colored pencils that can offer a distraction during stressful moments.
“The coloring pages in the kits were added because I know how helpful a distracting activity can be,” Brennan said.
Her own experiences helped shape the idea. Brennan said her anxiety first emerged in restaurant settings, where she sometimes struggled to sit through an entire meal because she felt as though her throat was closing or she could not breathe, at times prompting her to leave.
Brennan, a member of Oceanside-based Girl Scout Troop 2550, began volunteering at Camp ANCHOR, the Town of Hempstead’s six-week summer day camp for children and adults with special needs, when she was 14, and now she works there. At the Lido Beach camp, she saw that people had different ways of coping with stress or sensory overload, which led her to include several options in each kit rather than rely on a single calming technique.
She also drew on people close to her while developing the idea. Her sister, Morgan, who works with her at the camp, offered input, and Brennan also turned to Sara Dowler, an Oceanside High School teacher and Youth Council adviser. Dowler’s classroom, Brennan said, had been a source of support during her own struggles with anxiety.
“Throughout my anxiety journey, Mrs. Dowler’s classroom was always a safe space,” Brennan said. “There was always time and a conversation if anyone needed it.”
As the idea took shape, Brennan began reaching out to local restaurants. She approached EGP, Alias Smith and Jones, and J. Paul’s Terrace Cafe in Oceanside, as well as The Caffè On Park in Rockville Centre, about making the sensory kits available to diners. She chose those businesses because they regularly attract families with children and she believed the resources would be particularly useful there.
Brennan completed the work over several months during her senior year while balancing school and other commitments. She relied entirely on donations to assemble the kits, spending no outside money. Her mother, Debra Brennan, said her daughter devoted more than 100 hours to the effort.
“From mapping out her project, reaching out for donations, talking to local restaurants, she really came out of her comfort zone to do something she loves — helping others,” Debra Brennan said.
To measure the kits’ effectiveness, Brennan included a QR code in each one linking to an online questionnaire where users could share their experiences. The feedback allowed her to see how families were using the resources and whether they found them useful.
The first response came from a parent whose children had used one of the kits, giving Brennan an early indication that the idea was having the impact she had hoped for.
“This was such a wonderful idea,” the parent wrote. “My kids said this was the best thing ever. Brilliant idea, and I would be more than happy to help you promote this.”
Brennan’s work was recognized this year when she became one of 67 young women across Nassau County to earn the Girl Scout Gold Award. She was honored at the 2026 Gold Award Ceremony at The Inn at New Hyde Park.
The Gold Award is the highest achievement in Girl Scouting and is open to Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts in high school, according to Girl Scouts of the USA. To earn it, Girl Scouts commit at least 80 hours to developing and carrying out a sustainable project that addresses the root cause of a community or global issue.
For Brennan, making “Dine and Unwind” sustainable meant finding a way for its message to reach beyond the 18 kits she assembled. She created an Instagram account and slideshow featuring research on stress and anxiety management, with a particular focus on children with anxiety and autism spectrum disorder. The presentation also encourages people to create their own sensory bags, using items tailored to the strategies that work best for them.
The larger goal, Brennan said, was not simply to provide sensory tools, but to foster a better understanding of challenges people may face in settings that others take for granted.
“As a person on the outside, it does not look like a hard thing to do,” she said.
That emphasis on mental health and service extended beyond Brennan’s Gold Award work. At Oceanside High School, she served as president of Youth Council, which promoted mental health awareness in the community, and participated in Best Buddies, a program that fosters friendships between students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. She also played volleyball and golf.
Brennan said she plans to continue that path this fall at Quinnipiac University, where she will begin the school’s 4+2 occupational therapy doctorate program. She said she knew from an early age that she wanted a career centered on helping others.
“I knew early on I always wanted to help people,” Brennan said. “As an occupational therapist, I will be able to do that.”
Ultimately, Brennan hopes “Dine and Unwind” will encourage people to recognize struggles that may not always be visible and consider how everyday spaces can be more inclusive.
“If you see someone having a hard time, don’t dismiss it,” she said. “Many people struggle, and that struggle can be silent. We need a little more inclusivity in our world.”
