If you read this Blog and/or know me you know about Cast Hope.
You have most likely heard how my friend Ryan Johnston and I have worked to
create this organization from a crazy idea for Ryan’s MBA project he shared
with me at the bar in Tres Hombres in Chico, CA to a full fledged non profit
impacting lives and sharing the outdoors throughout Northern California and
Western Nevada through the sport of fly fishing…and soon further. Many of you
have sent in donations, donated time, been to a fundraiser, watched a video,
shared our posts on social media, or just plain talked about it with someone
else. For all that…the big, the small, the intentional, and the unintentional,
we could not achieve the things we have without everyone’s support.
As Cast Hope has grown it has become an animal in and of
itself…needing to be fed with time, money, and hard work. That is the blessing
and curse of growth, it became a long time ago less of a hobby, or side project,
for us. Now most weeks it borders on a
full time job and others it is all consuming….and to be totally honest there
are just as many times where it is a huge pain in the ass as times where I get more
out of it then nearly any thing I do in my life. There are times at the bar
where Ryan and I hang our heads in despair and frustration, asking our selves
what the hell are we doing with our lives, cast hope, and all this work we put
in….How much do we have left in the tank for this thing, can we work this hard
for another 10 years or hell 6 months..…then there are times when we see and
feel a room full of people “get it” and I am literally brought to tears, and I
look up to the sky and say I will fucking kill my selves, give away all my
belongings, work until my hands bleed, and my mind is fried for this cause, for
these kids, and for these people who believe in us.
I think those feelings go hand in hand with anything in ones
life that means something, and that they are truly invested in. I think about
my kids…many times they nearly bring me to tears with the amount of love I have
for them and then like last night when they left their klean kanteens out at
band practice and I had to drive back out North of town to our practice space
after a REALLY long day and get them I was ready to dare I say go Homer Simpson
on them. What you care about is never easy or without challenges. In the end
you get what you give I believe. When you put everything into something it
gives and takes everything at any given time, that is what makes it so
important and meaningful.
Yesterday we had one of these moments at Cast Hope. We met
Dakota over 7 years ago when he was ten years old. He is now 17 and we put him
on a plane yesterday to start his guiding career at Barnof Lodge in Alaska. To
say Dakota has over come a lot to get to this point is like saying climbing Mount
Everest is a small afternoon hike. Many of us will never face the challenges
this young man has, and will crumble under half the weight his shoulders have beared
in his short time on earth. While I truly believe that we all bear our own
burdens and no one person’s burden is heavier then another, but I can truly say,
personally,when I look at my own life between 10years old and 17 years old I
would not have made it if I was Dakota.
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| One of Many fish along the road... |
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| Licensed to Guide |
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| Its been a long road my friend... |
Moments like yesterday though give it all value. The long
weekends, late nights, presentations where you pour your heart out to a room or
conference table and all you get is blank stares…all the money on gas, time
away from family, sleeping in the truck, shitty hotels, out and back flights to
places, and doubt…doubting all the time if this is really worth it, if you are
earning your donors money, putting it to work in a way that makes a difference,
asking your self while your flight is delayed hours if you should
just pile it all up and give it to curing cancer, are you REALLY making a
difference, doing right by the people that support you, and just in the end
living the life you believe in and doing what is best for the world around you….
Knowing that what I have done changed Dakota’s life gives it
all meaning. I know, even though at times doubt creeps in, Dakota is not the
only one I have helped via Cast Hope and I know what we do has value. I know that Cast Hope changes lives, preserves
our wild places for the future, AND is what I am meant to do with my love and
passion for the outdoors and the sport of fly fishing. BUT DAMN it is nice to
see it all pay off in such an amazing way! We fucking did it!!!! It is a long
road for Dakota but we are off the back roads where the pot holes and obstacles
are EVERYWHERE and on to the freeway now where the chances of safe arrival at
our destination are a bit higher.
Cast Hope will never be McDonalds or the Boys and Girls Club
or some organization that can say we served 1 million kids this year…that is
not what we are about. Even if we (hopefully when) grow throughout the nation I
can’t imagine putting millions of kids through our program. I want to put
thousands and know them all, be able to tell all their stories, walk them from
10 years old to 18 or 20 years old and send them off to college or to guide
some where and help them start their careers and their lives. I want them to
fish ounce every two weeks with a guide and their mentor, go on trips with
other kids from all walks of life, learn about their local watersheds and
ecosystems, and fall in love with rivers, lakes, oceans, and the lands that
surround them so that they will be the ones to do what Ryan and I do with Cast
Hope for their generation any way they can.
I end every discussion or presentation I make about Cast
Hope with the following quote. It means a lot to me personally and I think
speaks to everything I rambled on about here….
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| Good Luck Buddy!!!! |
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