Constitutional Gardens Pond
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C.A.S.T. HELPS CELEBRATE NATIONAL BOATING & FISHING DAY
Catching a Special Thrill on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
Jim Owens, C.A.S.T. For Kids Founder and Executive Director
Each year the start of National Boating & Fishing Week is kicked off with a fishing event at the lake in Constitutional Gardens on the Mall in Washington, D.C. D.C. area schools are invited to participate and this year there were close to 300 kids. For the past few years, children with disabilities have also been part of the celebration, and this year C.A.S.T. for Kids was invited to host this part of the day.
This event is organized and sponsored by many of the federal outdoor management agencies such as the Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, along with NOAA, U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers, D.C. Department of the Environment, National Parks Service, U.S. Forest Service, Trout Unlimited, and Future Fisherman's Foundation. Also serving as major sponsor is the Recreation Boating and Fishing Foundation. The first Monday of June is not only the start of National Boating and Fishing Week, but this event highlights the different aspects of fishing and boating, as well as educating the children who attend. Before fishing, all of the children attend educational sessions set up around the lake. These sessions are based on the Passport to Fishing Program and cover such things as boating and water safety, knot tying, and angler ethics.
The C.A.S.T. for Kids section of the event hosted 25 students from the Sharp School that is located in the Northeast D.C. area. This school specifically caters to children with severe disabilities and creates a setting that provides these kids the opportunity to succeed. This was their day to go on a fishing trip, enjoy the outdoors, and to hopefully catch a fish. And today, they did all three. With a group of very caring and dedicated volunteers from the D.C. Fisheries Dept., BLM, USFW, and me, the kids learned how to cast, bait hooks, and feel the tug of a fish on the line. That's right! All of the kids ended up catching at least one fish, most catching more than one. We had one special volunteer who spent the whole day with our group and easily helped most of the kids catch fish. His name is Dale Hall, and he is the Director the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. He was obviously an experienced fisherman and today he was a fish-catching machine. It was great to see hands-on attention given to each participant from such a high level official.
We finished up the day with a box lunch and sent our special new friends back to the Sharp School with brand new rods & reels, tackle boxes, t-shirts and caps, courtesy of C.A.S.T. for Kids. The teachers enthusiastically took a vow to use their new equipment to take the kids on more fishing trips this summer, and the D.C. Fisheries agreement to help them was a win-win deal for everybody.
I felt very privileged to be asked to help with this event and hope to continue to do it for many years to come. It is always special to work with kids, but in the shadow of the Washington Monument, it's just a little bit more special.
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