TODAY’S FEATURE
Good Deed Doers Ramping Up For The Holidays
 
We talk - plenty - about things we can do to help the members of our armed forces serving away from home. As we’re only a couple of weeks away from Thanksgiving and less than six weeks from Christmas (egads!), it’s the time when being away from is toughest.

With that in mind, our Arizona friend Jim Solomon has decided to do more than talk about helping our troops who love fishing. Recently, Jim was talking on his radio show (Xplor the Outdoors with Jim and Patti) with Jeff Surdakowski from “Packages from Home” - an organization that sends nearly 2,000 packages a month to armed forces members around the globe.

During the conversation, Surdakowski mentioned that many of the service members loved fishing, but didn’t have fishing tackle to fish when they were off duty. In fact, some of the troops, he said, had even mentioned the fun of fishing tournaments to break the monotony of off-duty time.

Jim Solomon’s the wrong guy to make that suggestion to. Earlier this week, he contacted me to let me know about “Hook, Line and Freedom” - a new program with Packages From Home that is going to be sending fishing tackle to the troops. Starting on Veteran’s Day, Arizona sportsmen were being encouraged to take their slightly used or new fishing gear (rods, reels and tackle) to three locations, either Sportsman’s Warehouse stores in Phoenix or Mesa, or th Fisherman’s Choice Pro Shop in Phoenix.

Workers from “Packages from Home” will then pickup the gear and get it out to the troops. If you like the idea, you can help the “Packages” organization by helping them offset some of the significant costs of packing and shipping overseas. You can learn more on their website at www.packagesfromhome.org. I was pleased to learn the organization was-like many good ideas - the result of one mom sending her son care packages from home. When Kathleen Lewis discovered her son, Christian, was the only member of his squad getting packages from home, she and some friends decided to adopt his squad. From that simple act of kindness, the organization has grown to become officially recognized by the Department of Defense to send packages to troops.

As the project progresses, we’ll keep you posted.

And if you have a budding artist in your midst, the eleventh annual Wildlife Forever State Fish Art contest is underway. Students from grades 4-12 can choose one of their native state fish and send an illustration of it, along with a written composition on its behavior, habitat and conservation as their entry. The State -Fish Art contest is used to interest youth in both art and fisheries conservation.

Entries must be postmarked by March 31, 2009, and winners will be announced on May 1, 2009. Get all the details at www.statefishart.com along with entry forms and if you’re a teacher, download the free “Something’s Fishy” lesson plan.

–Jim Shepherd