Becky and I have finally put this thing together. We have approval from the tax people, named a board of trustees and developed a basic plan going forward. The Ike Foundation is for real!
We’ve been thinking about this for at least 10 years. The basic idea is to get more kids fishing, kids who aren’t normally introduced to it. We know it’ll help them learn to appreciate the outdoors and learn a few of life’s lessons along the way.
I hear all the time when I’m doing sport shows and seminars that modern kids don’t play outdoors. They spend all their time on computers and with smartphones. That’s true to some extent, but it’s also true that our playgrounds are full of baseball and soccer teams as well as pickup basketball games.
What we’re really not seeing are kids fishing and participating in the more traditional outdoor sports. Some of that is a simple lack of opportunity.
We realized this when I was working with City Limits, my old TV show. Kids would line the banks and watch us catch fish right in the downtown parts of their city. Honestly, I don’t think some of them had ever seen anyone fish before. It was like they were amazed. But, when they saw it happening they realized how much fun it was. It was obvious they wanted a piece of the action. All they needed was an invite.
The thing is, though, an invite in some parts of the country can be hard to come by. There are some nonprofit programs that promote fishing but many of them suffer from a lack of equipment. In some places, there are no programs at all.
As a city kid I know how important opportunity can be when it comes to getting someone out fishing. Most of the people in my neighborhood didn’t fish. It wasn’t that they didn’t like it. It was that they didn’t know anything about it.
I got lucky. My uncle took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. He was able to help me get going. Without a mentor I might not have learned how wonderful going fishing could be. A lot of kids aren’t so lucky.
The Ike Foundation is collecting new or gently used tackle, organizing it and helping get it to the right people. We’re also going to help start fishing programs in nontraditional areas.
The tackle collection will start in my garage. I have tons and tons of tackle that I’ll never use. Why should it sit around and collect dust? We’d love to have you guys participate, too. Everybody is welcome and needed.
Please, look around your garage for stuff you don’t need, see if you don’t have a day or two this year to take a kid fishing and check us out here.
Fishing is my life. I know what it did for me and for my family. It can do the same thing for someone else’s family, too. We just have to help make that happen.
Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter or visit his website, mikeiaconelli.com.
