The thing you MUST do to keep attrition as high as possible is organize local fishing trips on the weekends. We sometimes forget that the point of the fly tying and casting instruction is to go out and catch fish. Most people will get bored if they don't see some benefit to what they are doing. Yes, fly tying and casting can be physically and mentally therapeutic, but it will only go so far if you don't get them out on the water and just like a kid - try to make it easy enough so that people catch fish. Bass and bluegill ponds are a great resource. Building a local chapter isn't easy, but you need to establish relationships with local land owners who have access to desirable fishing water, reach out to your local FFF and Trout Unlimited, your local fly shops and guides. And most importantly, engage PHW national for additional resources. They can't dole out buckets of cash, but there are processes and procedures in place to ensure success. I am a volunteer at the Ft Belvoir PHW program in Northern Virginia where many wounded service members come when they are sent to Walter Reed/ Wash DC.
Scott On Sun, Aug 10, 2014 at 4:01 PM, Ronald Boutin <[email protected]> wrote: > We have been working with local VA hosp doling tying workshops .However it > has not gone over very well as most people that come are just looking for > something to do for a few hours ant not really interested in learning to > tie. So we are trying to see how we can increase participation. I help out > on a Project Healing Waters teaching steelhead fishing on the salmon river > (ny).It is a 2 and a half day program and always completely filled. It is a > great program and very rewarding.. > Ron b > > > On August 8, 2014, at 11:42AM, "Walter K. Shockley" wrote: > > Good Morning all, > > For two years I worked with another gentleman here in the Charleston SC > Area to get a Project Healing Water Fly Fishing (PHWFF) group started as he > was the lead and moved ever so slow, as we were going nowhere I ask the > national group to send me all the information and I would make it work. > I talked with the folks at the Charleston VAMC and put posters up, > contacted all the fly shops and off we went. > > Last Tuesday I conducted my first class for five veterans (2 could not > make it) in fly casting and on the 19th I will start them on fly tying. I > have 4 Viet Nam era vets and 3 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. What a joy > to to work with these veterans. > > PHWFF has been great on providing fly rods, vices and tying tools. What we > could use more of is materials if you have any extra items falling off your > fly tying table we could sure use them. I will be sure to give credit to > any items donated. > > I was also thinking it might be fun to do a “Blue Gill” swap with five of > the veterans here and five from this list, so they may see some of the work > others are doing and I can keep it simple for them. > I was thinking flies in the mail to me by 1 December. None of this is set > in stone so if you have other ideas please let me know. > > I called it a "Blue Gill Swap" as we have a couple of smalls ponds close > by they could use the flies in. > > Thanks in advance to all for your ideas and help. > > Walter > > Walter Shockley > 448 Mercantile Rd. > McClellanville, SC 29458 > > > -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" > group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en > > VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VFB Mail" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" > group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en > > VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VFB Mail" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VFB Mail" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
