Utah Non-Profit Organization
Lending a Hand is the Right Thing to Do
If you are like me, you could most likely use a story today that offers good news. I love hearing about people that have found a way to make the world a better place and I am anxious to share this story with you.
Utah's Steve Henline is an avid fisherman and spent a career as a guide on chartered fishing excursions. Steve decided early on that his boats and skills would always be available to any veteran or disabled child at no cost. However, as the years went on, Steve became troubled that he could not take many of the most disabled individuals on the water. Wheelchairs are nearly impossible to accommodate on fishing excursions!
After he retired, Steve set out with the help of friends and strangers to design and build a wheelchair accessible boat, and to set up a nonprofit organization that would make the boat accessible to those who could benefit most. Through hard work, these dreams became a reality. Freedom’s Dream is the custom pontoon boat that was designed specifically to accommodate multiple wheelchairs easily while being fully rigged for fishing.
Hand in Hand Outdoors is committed to helping wounded veterans, disabled adults and children, and military families who have lost their fathers to war. Captain Steve takes his custom boat out on fishing trips multiple times a week from April to October. Last year alone, 538 people got to go fishing on Freedom’s Dream with Captain Steve.
Hand in Hand Outdoors works with the Veteran’s Hospital and other organizations to find people to take on the fishing trips. There is no shortage of people to fill the boat multiple times a week all summer long. The organization somehow managed to help 538 people last year on a very limited budget of $20,000.
You may be thinking that this is a little recreation project, but it’s not. The suicide rate for men ages 21-35 coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq is up 44%. Many of these soldiers have so much pent up inside and yet they often refuse to share anything with others; however, when one seaman from the Navy goes out on the boat with a soldier from the Army and they start to talk to each other while fishing on a lake, they tend to open up.
Taking trips on Freedom’s Dream has already made a difference in the lives of many men, women, and children. While providing recreation is great, this organization is really about changing lives.
Johnny McCoy of Knotty Alder Cabinets had the opportunity to go out on a boat trip as a volunteer last year. Here is what he shared about his experience:
“I noticed two young boys fighting on the boat. I asked Captain Steve what was going on. He explained that the boy’s father had died in Afghanistan just a few weeks before. Their mother did not know anything about fishing and contacted Hand in Hand Outdoors and asked them if they would teach her sons to fish.
As I continued to scan the boat I saw two men, who I found out had both been in wheelchairs for over 20 years. They both had tears in their eyes as they explained that they had loved to fish before and had given up hope that they would ever be able to fish again.”
Johnny McCoy has set a goal to donate $20,000 from his business to Hand in Hand Outdoors this year and he encourages other businesses and organizations to get involved as well. However, Johnny stresses that any individual can help. Johnny believes that there is no such thing as a “small” act of kindness and adds, “Helping others is the right thing to do.”
You can learn more about Hand in Hand Outdoors and how you can help this incredible cause by visiting their website: www.handinhandoutdoors.org. If you need an idea for a project for Scouts or other group organization, this one would certainly fit the bill.
Also, take a minute to watch this cool video starring the founder Steve Henline.
Happy Saturday
Thanks to Whitney for providing this guest post to help raise awareness about this amazing project.
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