Throughout the year Old Salt members are presented many ways to engage youths and their families helping them to learn about, and personally experience, the sport of fishing. It is one of the big reasons many of our members give so much of their time & hearts. We do it because we can have an EPIC DAY on the water when others can’t. We want to share the love of the water and fishing with our Youth.
Old Salt Fishing Foundation has over the years set up several ways to inspire the youth of today. Two recent opportunities of this type involved a fishing expedition with 1st Downs 4 Life for kids & parents from families where one of the parents is impacted by breast cancer and another with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay for children facing a range of adversity in life.
Old Salt was able to organize a half day fishing outing with partners Hubbard’s Marina and The City of Madeira Beach this past March. 1st Downs 4 Life brought the families and Old Salt and partners supplied the fishing. For the children this was a special treat. Burdened as they are by a parents catastrophic illness, opportunities for activities like a day on the water (on a HUGE fishing boat none the less) with a fishing rod in their hands are few and far between.
The adults and kids all caught lots of fish, had a whale of a time and made it back to land, safe and sound. Following the fishing we all enjoyed lunch provided by PDQ and all the kids were given rods to take home so they could keep on fishing.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay serve the needs of youth who face a range of adversity and lack at least one substantial adult male or female relationship in their lives. We were honored to host 70 children and their respective mentors on the seawall the the Madeira Beach Recreation Complex for a morning of fishing and fun. It is difficult to express the power one adult can have on one child. Some were experienced anglers, most…. not at all. It mattered not one tiny bit. They were there for these kids and Old Salt couldn’t be happier to have been afforded the opportunity to serve. Old Salt volunteers and personnel from the Madeira Beach Marina gave selflessly, making a real day of it. The kids all had a blast. Each child was given an Old Salt goody bag filled with tackle, sweet treats and of course their very own fishing rod to take home.
These are just two examples of the kind o service Old Salt strives to provide for youth and families. There are more. Many more. If you have a heart for service, like to fish or just like the idea of fishing, check Old Salt out. We’d love to have you come on board.
Old Salt,
Just started a new fishing club for young anglers in Lithia, Florida. With just 3 weeks in, we have 15 members between 6-17 years old. I want to plan an outing for them to experience salt water fishing. Any suggestions are sincerely appreciated. Perhaps we could partner in some way; as we both are trying to turn on young anglers you our beloved sport of Angling. Looking forward to exploring opportunities with you.
Respectfully,
Jerry Compton