Make A Wish Fishing Story
I know that a lot of the anglers have heard of Make
A Wish Foundation, or have had dealings with them. I must say it is one of life's great pleasures to pitch in
and help a child with a lifetime dream that is terminaly ill.
A few years ago I got that pleasure to
contribute a little of my time and help a dream come true.
I was working for Bass Pro at the time and the manager Jim Osborne
approached me and ask if I would be willing to put on a demonstration for a little guy named Thomas. It was
his dream to get up on our fishing tank with Madman and fish. I felt very
honored to have been asked to help out. There was only one
answer that I could give and that was YES.
Thomas arrived at Bass Pro with His parents in a
Long Black Limo On a August day and was greeted by the Store Manager Jim Osborne.
Jim presented Thomas with a Bass Pro T-Shirt and Hat
then they proceeded inside where Thomas got to meet Madman, and was suited up first with a Madman T-Shirt, which Thomas put on
right then.
We both proceeded up the ladder of our demonstration
tank full of bass, crappie, catfish and bream. This tank is used to show customers how the different bait looks in the water,
and how the fish react to the lures. The hooks are removed so no harm willcome to the fish.
To start it off I described what a Madman Crawdad
was and while I was explaining the lure, Thomas was throwing the crowd a bunch of crawdads. Then Thomas and I proceeded to
fish.
I would cast the line in due to the low building ceiling that we
had back then, and Thomas would reel it in. Needless to say, Thomas had almost caught every Bass in the tank if there
had been a real hook on the lure. Thomas got to feel the Bass come up and hit the bait and had the time of
his life.
Back a few years ago I would feed the fish after a
demonstration with small bream that I caught at a near by lake. On this
special occassion I was going to let Thomas do the
feeding.
What we would do is get someone from the crowd to
get real close to the glass, and Thomas would throw the bream in the tank. Who ever was watching to see what fish got it had to
scream out he got it. Then Thomas would throw out a Bass Pro T-Shirt.
After we had fed the fish, we proceeded down to
rejoin his parents, and at this time Bass Pro and Madman presented Thomas with
his own Bait cast rod and reel.
I told Thomas we did not want him to go home to his
lake without a rod and reel, already set up with a crawdad. Madman also presented Thomas with a necklace that was just
chucked full of different colored Crawdads.
The parents contacted Make a Wish later and told
them the first day back in school Thomas wore that necklace to school and
would not take it off.
I do not know if anyone else in this world got the
enjoyment I did that day and will always be in my mind and heart. If you ever
have a chance to give to Make A Wish Foundation, Please
do and like the old saying it will come back to you in ten fold.
I later tried to contact Make A Wish to see how Thomas was doing
and they told me they would keep us posted, but could not tell us where Thomas was from, or what Hospital that he was
in.
Make A Wish has a policy that they can not disclose
the where abouts of Thomas. All I can do is Pray for him and know that I contributed to making his wish come true and looking
into his face and seeing the eyes sparkle.
Many thanks to Bass Pro and Make A Wish Foundation
for helping make a small childs dream come true.
I have attached some pictures of the special day
that are in my scrapbook, and I wanted to share them with you.
Keep The Hooks Wet!
Steve
McGoldrick
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