A Plea from Dylan

Posted by Gabe on March 16, 2010 under Kids are Heroes | Be the First to Comment

I received this email this afternoon from one of our heroes, Dylan Mahalingam. Here is his profile on  our web site.  If you read it, and I really hope you do, you will discover more evidence of how Dylan, at just 14 years old, is changing the world.  I know he has the resoources to do what he suggests, he just needs funding.  And all he is asking for is your vote, not for any amount of money from you.  If this touches you as it did me, please send the link on to your friends and family. Thank you!

• We are looking for friends and family who are willing to vote for us once per day.
• We want to know if you are able or willing to do this, and if you are, please email us back with a YES.
• We will send you an email reminder every day.
  
• Voting will take place on https://www.at15.com/contests_scholarships/community_impact. Vote for Listen Up!
  
• Voters must register as members of at15.com and therefore, must be over the age of 13. You go to the link above to register. Registration is simple.
  Please remember to leave the box for “I would like to receive e-mail updates” unchecked if you don’t want to receive any e-mails from them.
  Your password will be e-mailed to you.
  You can click on the link in the e-mail and reset your password.
  You only need to register once; after this, you can simply go to:
  https://www.at15.com/contests_scholarships/community_impact to cast your vote. You can vote once per day and voting started on March 15th.
• You can vote once per e-mail address, every day.
• If you have a Twitter account, please tweet about this daily.
  
• The voting and tweeting will take less than 1 min each day.
  
• The contest allows you to vote for 2 different projects each day to encourage people to vote for people they don’t know, based solely on their projects (a good twist!)
• I truly believe that the project we are putting out there will create something phenomenal to engage children worldwide, and that is why we are comfortable asking you to do this.

Once you log in you get two votes.  Please vote for the Climate Action Club as your second vote as effort was created by another KAH hero, Chloe Maxmin.

Taking Social Media to the Next Level

Posted by Gabe on March 12, 2010 under Facebook, Kids are Heroes, Social Media, Twitter | 13 Comments to Read

I always get a kick out of remembering when my first day on Twitter was.  If I forget I can go to the site that tells me when I did.  For me it happened to be Christmas Eve, 2008.  I almost feel guilty for being on the computer that day and cannot recollect my motivation, but at least I didn’t tweet too much on the day I should have been spending with my family.  It wasn’t long until I was addicted to the concept of getting to know people through this platform.  As I progressed I learned a lot which I have tried to share in this blog.  Sometime mid-2009 I created a Facebook fan page for Kids Are Heroes and now I had two platforms to manage.  So what is the point of all this social networking, anyway?  Is it just to pass the time and comment on what we all had for breakfast?  Absolutely not.  It’s about connecting with people. Period.  Funny thing is that I thought I was connecting with people all along.  I would converse with them, ask about what they do, give them #followfriday mentions, help them in any way I could, the whole nine yards.  But it wasn’t until fairly recently when I took these connections to the next level.

You may know that recently we have partnered with Levar Fisher, an ex-NFL star who travels around the country motivating youth and speaking about Kids Are Heroes.  I was introduced to Levar by Mary Kurek, who works in Levar’s behalf by helping him to connect with people like me.  I watched how she works and that is how I learned to really connect with people.  Connecting means more to me now than just #followfriday mentions on Twitter.  Thanks to Mary I learned that it’s about taking action.  It’s about seeking out people who might complement you and you them.  It’s about picking up the phone and really connecting.  From those conversations both parties can then take action and actually do something to further each other’s causes. I have been on the phone for the first time with people I met on Twitter more times in the last three weeks than I have in the year I have been involved in social media.  I believe that this works just as well with businesses as it does non-profits.  I had a long phone conversation with Tom Tuohy of Dreams for Kids yesterday and the word that came up often was ‘collaboration’. I am so looking forward to seeing what unravels from that connection.  This week I also connected with Blake Raab of Bears on Patrol.  One would think that non-profits would keep their cards close to the vest and not share anything, because we are all competing for donations that are out there.  That’s the old way of thinking.  It just so happens that I love Blake’s mission and I really want him to be successful.  That is why I am trying to come up with ways that our kids can support what he does.  I have learned that a great leader is one who makes people who work with him (or her) successful.  This is what I aspire to be and hopefully something that I am working toward every day.

So take action and leave a comment. I might just arrange a phone call. :)

Our First Disney Event

Posted by Gabe on March 6, 2010 under Kids are Heroes | 3 Comments to Read

We completed our first Disney event today. To catch those of you up who have not been following, we hosted a “Give a Day Get a Disney Day” event at Boyd’s Bear Country in Gettysburg where people stuffed bears for donations to sick children in exchange for Disneypark tickets.

When I went into this day I thought it would be a lot of fun.  I knew the kids would think hard and be real careful when they picked out their bears. I must admit I underestimated the parents though, in a big way.  I figured all of them were in it just for the Disney tickets and therefore would pay for their quota of bears and be done with it.  Boy was I wrong.  These folks did hold fund raisers at school, pleaded with their families and neighbors and sought out funding wherever they could. People who had to buy just one bear stuffed eight of them! I was so moved by this.  The kids were so excited to build so many bears. One boy built a bear with a camouflage jacket and named him ‘Sarge’.  Another stuffed a dog and called him ‘Fetch’.  As they moved through the assembly line they got to choose different colored beads as the makeup of the stuffed animal. Blue represented bravery, orange honesty, pink happiness, etc.  The kids had such a good time mixing these emotions together.  But there was nothing more moving than the letters that were written.

Part of the project was to draw pictures and write letters to the kids who would benefit from the bears.  These are either hospitalized children or ones in an orphanage in Uganda.  We asked the kids to think hard about what to write to them as the letters would accompany the bears.  I happened to read one of them written by Alivia who is just five years old. It reads:

“This bear is brave and will protect you when you are scared. It will give you hugs and play with you.  Take it on your adventures so you can have a friend. – From Alivia”

This sentiment pretty much summed up the day.  MaryMargaret brought her friend Emma to help in the craft room and they both had a wonderful time.  As many as 40 bears were built by twelve families — and this was just the dry run.  We are shooting for at least 300 people for our next event scheduled for April 10th. I can’t wait.

MaryMargaret & Emma build a bear for the orphans in Uganda.

To participate in the April 10th event, click here and choose the zip code 17325.

Kids Are Heroes Ambassadors

Posted by Gabe on March 3, 2010 under Kids are Heroes | 12 Comments to Read

I saw a tweet by @TheLemonadeBoy this morning which read, “…dreams are seldom accomplished by an individual..being a one man army will lead only to defeat!”  Recently I have been using quotes such as these to encourage myself and others.  Although I did not believe the second part of this one it did make me think.  I know that I feel my passions will always trump my shortcomings, but I also realize that other people have a lot to offer and can help Kids Are Heroes in a way that I cannot.  A successful person always surrounds himself with people smarter than he.  So I came up with a way to involve others so they did not have to commit to too much time and/or energy, they can do it no matter where they live, and could still have a markedly positive effect on our growth.

This concept is in its infancy, so I reserve the right to change it as much as I need to.  As a matter of fact, I expect it to change when I get more input from others, meaning those who sign up for it, and hopefully that’s you.  The basic idea is to have Kids Are Heroes “ambassadors” who will offer any kind of expertise and help that they can and are willing to do.  For example, if you have a large user base and want to get the word out to them by tweeting, email, suggesting our fan page to your friends on Facebook, or all of the above, or whatever other method then that is what you will do.  If you are a PR person then you can help us develop press kits and sponsorship packages.  If you are a business coach then you can offer us your services.  We need people to help fund raise. Whatever you are good at and/or want to do for us is what you will do.  What we will offer in return is a listing on our Ambassadors web page that will have your name, Twitter ID, link, company, etc. and you will also list what you are doing to help Kids Are Heroes grow.  I will of course be promoting this program to all of our followers by tweeting about this page, so you would reap the rewards there.  You can network with each other knowing you all have in common the desire to promote what kids are capable of.  You will get a badge like the one below to put on your web site.  Unfortunately I have no monetary rewards to give and that is one of the reasons why I seek out true fans of what we do.  Another reason is that if you share our passion then it will show in the things you do for us.

I am both excited and proud to announce that we already have our first ambassador on board.  Her name is Jeanne (@TheRubyBooks) and we connected today over the phone. She has something very like minded going on over on her web site: http://realizewhatmatters.org/.  She is also inspiring kids to give back through her literary efforts.  Ruby, the star of her book series, will be starting Kids Are Heroes related discussions in some of the  upcoming chapters.  We are really looking forward to that.

So I am very thrilled to get this started.  I do not have the web page created yet, that is what I will do after I get a few of you ambassadors on board.  I do have a more detailed web page for ambassadors and what to expect which you can see here.  So if you are interested, please email me directly and we can get started.  Make no mistake about it — you will be part of something world changing. I look forward to working with you.

Protecting the Horses

Posted by Gabe on March 1, 2010 under Featured Hero, Kids are Heroes | Be the First to Comment

We recently met Alannah Raven through her dad Eddy who tours the country speaking about disaster preparedness.  As a matter of fact, Alannah often goes with him and speaks about the same subject.  But it was her passion for the protection of horses that sparked this interview.  A word of caution here: If you are at all squeamish when it comes to animals being harmed or tortured, you may want to skip this post.  We try not to go into too much detail but I feel it is important to raise awareness about what is going on in this country.  I personally had no idea. And kudos to Alannah for having the courage at such a young age to confront these horrors.

I am very interested in your work for the salvation of horses. How did you discover the atrocities that are being leveled against them?

I knew about soring from my work with horses in the area. I have also seen horses being sold for slaughter at auctions. One of our family rules is that as we kids tour more we have to choose a cause so I looked for an organization that needed help raising awareness and the International Fund for Horses seemed like the best fit for me.

Without being too graphic, can you describe what is going on?

It’s hard not to describe it so it is not gross. Wild horses are being rounded up and slaughtered for meat. Pregnant mares are tortured for years to collect their urine in a certain way to make medicine.  Show horses are sometimes tortured to make better shows.  Every day we read news stories of people that put horses out to pasture to watch them starve rather then finding them a good home.

How many wild horses are in the US?

There are less then 25,000.

Why are horses so important to you?

Horses are important to me because, out of all the animals I have, they are the most sensitive to people.  I have always liked horses since I was a little girl.  Through history horses are the one animal that helped up build our country but now are to often neglected and abused.  They are amazing animals.  They are strong and so beautiful and if you care for them they can be so much fun.

Besides donating to the International Fund for Horses, how can people help?

Awareness is the biggest thing. It is expensive to try to do what the folks at the International Fund for Horses are doing, but money is not always most important. I have links on my website people can use on their websites to help create awareness, they can assist in horse rescues, and horse owners could even help themselves just by considering how important it is to have disaster plans for there own horses!

What do you want to accomplish with the horses and what do you think you can accomplish?

 
I tour a lot around the country and I get to speak to thousands of people every year. As a member of Chasing4Life, I am building a good following and I hope I can motivate all of my friends to help me keep the International Fund for Horses going. Of course, I intend to keep rescuing horses personally as long as I have room to keep them.

I know you tour the country speaking about disaster preparedness.  Do you speak about the horses too?  What kind of feedback do you get from kids? From adults?

 
This spring will be my first horse-focused tour in the last two years as I have toured with Chasing4Life.  I have been well received by grade school kids and older adults. I expect (and hope) that it will be the same.

 
Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

 
I would hope to still be involved with the International Fund for Horses perhaps as a board member. I am looking into school for Pre-Veterinary Medicine at the Nebraska College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

Do you have anything you would like to add?

 
The International Fund for Horses has accomplished so much already and thankfully there are no slaughter houses left in the United States but there is so much to do. I have raised a little money so far and I think that my efforts have raised quite a bit more awareness too.  Just today while doing a photo shoot for IFH ads, I came across a neglected horse with no one to care for it and am bringing it to our farm.  Making a difference can be done one horse at a time.

We are so lucky to have kids like Alannah. She truly gives us hope.  I must say that before I met her I had absolutely no idea this was going on. My personal feeling is to live and let live and to each his own, but transgressions against animals are always sickening to me.  I just cannot understand how people can lose their heart for the sake of their personal monetary gain.

So please visit the International Fund for Horses and check out their web site. (Twitter: @Fund4Horses) In their “Issues” section you will see exactly what we are dealing with. Be forewarned though, some of their images are very graphic and indeed disturbing.  In the “Horse on the Hill” section you can see how they are attempting to affect change.  There are lots of ways you can help.  I just spoke with Vivian Grant, the president and founder of this organization.  She is a very learned and determined woman who is working tirelessly for these horses. She loves the fact that Alannah is in her camp.  Her biggest need are volunteers.  The good news is that most of her volunteers (currently 80+) work out of their homes and set their own hours.  She has volunteers all over the globe helping her.  If this is something you think you might want to be involved with, you can really make a difference.  Contact Vivian directly by email, or go right to the volunteer section of her web site and sign up.  The phone numbers for the Int’l Fund for Horses are 917.675.3453 (NY) and 713.893.7813 (Houston).  If this is not your cup of tea but you still want to help neglected horses, she can even help you find a local horse rescue in your area, no matter where you live.

Please take it upon yourself to spread the word as much as you possibly can for them and for the horses.

Check out Alannah’s profile on the Kids Are Heroes web site. For more information, visit Alannah’s web site at http://www.alannahraven.com.  

How to Get Me to Retweet You

Posted by Gabe on February 23, 2010 under Kids are Heroes, Social Media, Twitter | 4 Comments to Read

I should really call this post “How to (and how not to) Get Me to Retweet You” but that would probably break all the URL shorteners out there.  I write this post because I often get people asking me to retweet them.  These folks might think I’m just rude for not doing it. So be it.  Maybe you will think a bit differently once you see why I didn’t retweet you.  On that note I will start with “How Not to Get Me to Retweet You.”:

Ask me directly. By direct message or otherwise. 
This simply doesn’t work with me, unless we have a long standing relationship.  I know what you tweet is important to you, and you think that if I retweet it everything will be solved, but that’s simply not the case.  You must understand that I get A LOT of these requests and if I obliged everyone no one would understand what my own platform is.

Retweet me.
Some think that if they retweet me to their 150 followers I should be obliged to retweet them back.  I don’t care if you have a million followers, I don’t work that way either.  The retweet is not a bartering tool.  If you retweet me please do it because you liked what I wrote and not for any other reason. I will do the same for you.

Say “Please RT”.
Now many social media gurus will tell you that this is the best way to get retweeted, to add ‘Please RT’ or something similar to your tweet.  I must admit I do use it myself sometimes.  And I also admit I will do it if I know the person and I also know that they are genuine.  But if you do it all the time I for one will stop reading your tweets.  I retweet things that touch me in one way or another.  It could be funny, silly or really meaningful and powerful.  There is no way to know how a tweet will affect people.  I am constantly surprised at which of my tweets get retweeted.  Sometimes I think, ” Ok let this one go and watch the fireworks!” and all I hear are cricket sounds.  Then I see another tweet has been RTed several times.

Now for “How to Get Me to Retweet You”:

Write something meaningful that touches me in some way.  That is the huge secret to getting retweeted by me or by anyone.  This morning I happened to see a tweet sent out by of all people the Cookie Monster (who I am not even following). I had to retweet it: “Me got hungry while typing and ate me computer mouse. Taste like chicken.”  Now that made me laugh.  Sometimes I retweet responses to my tweets if it makes more sense to do so. I retweet @HeiferPortland a lot because he tweets about kids supporting his organization. I stopped retweeting Amber Alerts because I later discovered that some of them were fake.

I also have to be able to see it to retweet it.  I follow quite a few people and obviously can’t keep up with everything.  So does that mean you should @reply to people so they will see the tweet when you want it retweeted?  No – absolutely not.  As a matter of fact that may cause an unfollow from me.  I am in the same boat here.  I see celebrities who have hundreds of thousands of followers and think “Boy, if they tweeted my ID just imagine how many more people would find out about Kids Are Heroes!”  They usually aren’t following me so how do I get them to notice me? I can @reply to them.  However, if I do that, that is making me look worse than if I did nothing at all.  So what do I do?  How do I get people to retweet me?

Converse with me.  I try and write meaningful tweets and interact with people.  Just like anything else, the way you get people to notice your tweets is to converse with them in a genuine manner.  You can’t focus on being retweeted or it just won’t happen. Focus on the connections you have and the retweets will come.

The Future of Kids Are Heroes

Posted by Gabe on February 15, 2010 under Kids are Heroes, Social Media | Read the First Comment

During the moment the Kids Are Heroes concept was conceived, it was difficult to imagine where we would be today.  Receiving promotion by Sir Richard Branson, partnering with a former NFL star and holding events sponsored by Disney was definitely not on my radar screen at the time.   But somewhere along the way, we must have a vision for the future.  Well we certainly do have that vision.  Due to the acceptance, even embrace of this concept on a grand scale, I fully expect for Kids Are Heroes to be a globally recognized entity in ten years from now if not sooner.  Kids Are Heroes back packs will be for sale in Walmart and other stores, kids will wear our T-shirts and millions of children all over the world will learn about philanthropy at an early age.  During one of the many discussions I had with Levar Fisher, the aforementioned NFL star who is now out speaking about us, I could sense the excitement in his voice.  He was so pumped up that his words were tripping over each other which is totally unlike him as a gifted public speaker.  Then he stopped and said, “This can change the world!”  At that point I let out a wry smile knowing that he sees exactly what I see.

We plan to have resources available for schools in every language that wants us, we plan to establish clubs in neighborhoods, to offer scholarships to kids that deserve it and much more.  We plan to offer a mentoring program, help kids establish their own non-profits, provide web site and social media assistance, and even seed the ideas dreamed up by our heroes.  Now all that sounds well and good but how are we going to get there?  I mean it’s great to have a dream but we must be able to work toward that direction.  And that is just what we are doing.  If we had Sir Richard Branson’s pockets we could get there a lot faster.  As it turns out we don’t.  We need to somehow be able to fund these dreams.  I fully admit that fund raising is not one of my best known skills. As a matter of fact, I’m downright terrible at it.  But having flaws will never get in our way because our passion for this organization and what it can accomplish will always trump our imperfections.  Once we discovered the potential of social media we have been working each and every day to tap into it.  It has brought us our PitchTV win, our partnership with Levar, and many of the heroes we feature.  I honestly look forward to Mondays as I am eager to see what each new week will bring.

But is social media the only answer?  Will it bring us everything?  I certainly cannot count on it.  I realize that we are so fortunate to have started our organization when we did, because without the proliferation of social media we would be progressing much more like the tortoise as opposed to the hare.  In the beginning we actually scoured community newpapers around the country to find heroes for our site. Now mentions of them are a regular occurrence in our Twitter stream.  I realize that we will need financial backing and help from others to get to where we want to be.  So we are starting to reach out to companies that are a good match for us.  And of course we will never ignore our social media efforts.  That’s why we continue to reach out — it’s because we know that there are many of you out there who support what we are doing and would love to see us reach our goals.  Your acknowledgments are a partial source of food for our passion. So if any of you have any other ideas on how we can get to where we want to be, I’m all ears. And if you would just like to chip in, here’s where you can do it. Thanks always for your help!

Give a Day Get a Disney Day

Posted by Gabe on February 8, 2010 under Kids are Heroes | 2 Comments to Read

You may know that we recently featured Dylan Mahalingam on the Kids Are Heroes web site. Dylan and his family are involved in so many amazing things, it’s indeed mind-boggling. I had the pleasure of speaking to Dylan’s mom at length recently and among other things she brought up this “Give a Day Get a Day” concept. It turns out that Dylan’s organization, Lil’ MDGs, is one of the organizations that validates the volunteers for this project. What Disney is offering is that if you volunteer a day of service, you are entitled to a free day at one of their parks. We were asked if we would like to host one of these events.

Now at first I thought I would listen, be polite and just say ‘no’ to this request as we have so many things on our plate already. But after hearing more about it I felt it made the utmost sense for Kids Are Heroes to host at least one of these events. After all, despite the “reward” at the end, it still promotes volunteering and giving among family members.

So we mustered up the idea of inviting participants to a large store near us where families could “build” stuffed animals and donate them to sick and/or disadvantaged children.  We are calling it a “Boyd’s Bear Drive”, where families come out to Boyd’s Bear Country in Gettysburg, PA, get someone (a family member or friend) to donate a bear to them so they can build it for someone else.  We imagined the children methodically choosing just the right animal with just the right clothing to please a sick or needy child somewhere.  What’s nice about the Boyd’s Bears facility is that it is HUGE and can accommodate quite a few people at the same time.  Besides stuffing bears, the volunteers will write letters and draw pictures to include with the bear so that the recipients will get a better sense of who donated the bears to them.  The target locations for these bears are Children’s Medical Center in Washington DC, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, and the Nyaka school for orphans in Uganda.

It is of paramount importance to us that this goes smoothly for everyone so we are doing a ‘test run’ as it were on Saturday, March 6th from 12PM-2PM where we will max out at 50 people.  Our main event will then be on Saturday, April 10 where we hope to host as many as 400 people!  WOW!! That’s a lot of Disney tickets! UPDATE 3/8/10: Read my blog post on the first event.

UPDATE: As of 3/9/10 Disney has indeed reached its quota of 1 million vouchers.  There will be no more opportunities for free tickets provided by Disney.  If you would like to participate without getting a Disney ticket, please contact us directly.

Ex-NFL Star Partners with Kids Are Heroes

Posted by Gabe on February 3, 2010 under Kids are Heroes | 7 Comments to Read

Have you ever been involved with something that made you feel like you were the snowball at the top of the hill and someone just gave you a push?  That’s how I feel right about now.  I was recently approached by someone who asked me if I would consider a partnership.  Now I am starting to get these requests all the time. I’m certainly not complaining, but some of the “partners” see our social media numbers and picture nothing but opportunity for them.  I was naturally guarded at first.  However, it didn’t take long for me to figure out that Mary, this new contact, was genuine and smart, and that this relationship could greatly benefit the both of us.  Mary works with Levar Fisher, who after a stellar stint as an all-pro linebacker at NC State (Go Wolfpack!!), enjoyed a career in the NFL as he played for the Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints.  Unfortunately for him, at the age of 27 he had a career ending knee injury.  “Unfortunate” is how many would view this situation. Not Levar.  He sees this as a godsend.  “I was a check writer when I was in the NFL” Levar told me.  “If people needed money for charity, I was happy to write them a check. But don’t ask me to appear at your function. I’m not comfortable with that.”  Levar laughs when he looks back because now this is his livelihood.  And boy is he happy doing it!  Levar travels around the country as a motivational speaker.  He speaks to all ages, but his true love is when he gets to speak to kids.  He speaks of choices that face our youth, and encourages them to make the right ones.  In high school he was bullied because as he puts it, he was “fat and slow”.  “I’m going to be in the NFL!” he would tell people.  “Levar, you’re crazy!! You’re way too fat for the NFL – you can’t even play for our high school football team!” his peers would tell him as they laughed and joked.  Rather than let this ridicule beat him down, Levar was actually motivated by those disparaging remarks.  In his sophomore year in high school he was the best player on the varsity team.  He received a full scholarship to NC State. And you know the rest. “Don’t EVER let anyone tell you you can’t achieve your dream!” Levar tells kids.

In 2002 while just entering the NFL Levar founded a non-profit organization called “Fisher of Men”, which provide resources and opportunities for youth inspiring good decision-making and boosting self confidence. Levar is currently embarking on his brand new ”Believe Again 2010″ tour that will have him traveling the country speaking to kids of all ages.  In addition to his usual message he will be telling stories of the kids on the Kids Are Heroes web site and what they have accomplished.  This fits right in with his confidence building speech.  He will be telling kids all over the country that they too can affect change by emulating the children on our site.  I am so excited about this relationship as this is the kind of boost we need.  But I wouldn’t enter in an arrangement like this just because someone wanted me to.  For me the final test before we sealed this partnership was that Levar had to sincerely believe in what we are doing.  During one of our conversations as he was recounting some of the heroes’ stories back to me I could tell he was full of excitement and anticipation.  I sat back and listened as all of a sudden paused and said, “This can change the world!”  That’s when I knew this partnership would work.

When I first watched a tape of Levar speaking, I immediately sought out our local Toastmasters club as he made me realize how much improvement I need to gain as an accomplished speaker.  For forty minutes he was fluid and eloquent, with no need for notes of any kind.  And when I heard the speech he gave to a large group of kids I was even more excited. He engaged them and they hung on his every word.  They laughed and giggled at his jokes.  He is intelligent, funny and very pleasant to listen to.  He was able to keep their undying attention for the entire time.

If you are an educator I would highly suggest calling Levar and having him speak at your school or kids’ group.  He can be reached through his web site.  I look forward to witnessing the fruit that is borne from this relationship, and I just can’t wait to see what happens next!

Fly Fishing for Soldiers

Posted by Gabe on February 1, 2010 under Featured Hero, Kids are Heroes | 3 Comments to Read

Today I had the privilege of interviewing Jasper Lee, a high school student from Manhattan, NY who is an avid fly fisherman.  He loves it so much that he shares it with people he thinks would benefit most from its therapeutic value.  Jasper teaches this skill to soldiers in hopes that it can help rehabilitate them as they try to reacclimate themselves back into society.  This is a great example of turning one of your own passions into something that can really help others.

How did you get started in fly-fishing and at what age?

I started fishing when I was 3 but I didn’t learn to fly-fish until I was 12. Now that I fly-fish I don’t even like spin fishing. Its just one big plop in the water but for me fly-fishing is about being outdoors, its about slowing myself down and just focusing on one thing. When I’m casting, I’m not thinking about the next paper I have to write, its all about the line, the fish, and me. I used to go on fishing trips with my mom and dad. They would fly-fish for most of it and when I could I’d spin fish. Of course I did what any 6 year-old would do on a boat but I also sat and watched. I watched my mom and dad fly-fish and I think because I watched for so long, it helped me to pick up the nuance of fly-fishing faster. 

Do you supply the “waders” and boots or can this be done from a boat?

Veteran Anglers of New York, in affiliation with Project Healing Waters does have many waders and boots. On an outing to the Delaware River Club, the owner actually supplied the waders and boots for all of the veterans who went. There are two types of fly-fishing. Salt water and fresh water. If you ask a freshwater guy he’ll tell you that freshwater fishing is harder. If you ask a saltwater guy he’ll tell you that saltwater is harder. I’m a saltwater guy. In freshwater more often than not you’re in waders and boots. Sometimes you can do what’s called a “float trip” where you kind of just float down the river. In saltwater, most of the time you’re on a boat. Sometimes we get out which is what’s known as “wading” (hence waders). But in saltwater, you don’t need waders. You are walking through the ocean, not some cold stream. Since VANY is located in New York, and because logistically wading is easier with a big group, we do a lot of wading with the veterans. However, not all wading has to be done from the actual water. You can stand on the shore and cast. That’s what we did on the last outing with the veterans.

Where are your favorite spots to fly-fish?

 
Personally, I love the Bahamas. I love to catch bonefish and the Bahamas is one of the greatest places to do it. The scenery is just spectacular and there are some of the biggest bonefish I’ve ever seen. I’ve been to Belize as well and I liked it except for the fact that the bonefish there are considerably smaller. 

What does this activity mean to you?

To me, fly-fishing is a way to get in touch with myself. In New York City, everything is fast-paced and hectic but pick up a fly-rod and it all goes away. The stress just melts away with every false-cast. Fly-fishing lets me, be me. Of course there is always the occasional interruption when my dad corrects my form, but other than that, its all about catching fish. I don’t have to think of anything else when I’m fishing. I get to just relax and have fun. 

Can you tell us about VANY? How did it get started? How many members does it have?

VANY (Veteran Anglers of NY) is just a group of people who wanted to do more for veterans. That group of people also happens to love fly-fishing. We wanted to help those who have served, those who were disabled because of that. We all saw the effect fly-fishing had on us and we all thought that veterans could greatly benefit from the relaxation and stress-relief that comes with fly-fishing. I really do think that its one of the best ways to get in touch with yourself, and that veterans are greatly helped by it. They have experienced the most stressful environments and conditions on earth, so its our job to give them one of the best ways to relieve stress and anxiety. VANY has 7 board members but our meetings usually have anywhere from 10-15 people at them. We were just at the Somerset fly-fishing show last weekend at the Project Healing Waters booth. A man walked up and said “I really want to give back the veterans, what do I do? And where do I sign up?” it’s people like that who really help VANY and Project Healing Waters. Of course there is a core group but that’s just the beginning, the number of people who come to teach the veterans how to cast, and that come to our meetings fluctuates. For more information you could always check out the website, http://www.veterananglersny.org/

Why did you choose soldiers to help as opposed to other individuals who this might benefit?

Soldiers experienced the most grueling conditions. They went to sleep and woke up everyday fearing for their lives, I can’t imagine something more stressful. We owe it to them to help relieve their stress. My dad is also a veteran, both of my grandfathers were too. The VA hospitals do great things for the veterans but they really can’t make sure everyone gets everything they need. The system is just flawed. So, its our job, the people who they fought for, to give back in anyway we can. I’m only in high school, but I was given the chance to fly-fish, so now its my turn to give someone else the chance, someone who became disabled because what my country asked them to do.

 
Where will you go from here? Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

I think VANY is something that will always stay with me. As I continue on in life, I will certainly continue to fly-fish and I will continue to help Veterans get the same pleasure from it that I do. 10 years from now I’ll be 27, wow that’s a scary thought. And at that time I think I’ll be in residency at medical school. I have wanted to be a doctor for a long time. I want to help people feel better, I want to help people get back to the way they were before they came to see me.  VANY allows me to do that and fly-fish its really a win-win situation for me. I can’t think of another way to give back and have fun at the same time.