2010 EVENTS

The 8th Annual Fishing for Dreams tournament was held on April 24, 2010, at the St. Augustine Boating Club. They have generously donate their Club since FFD’s inception in 2003.

OUR 2010 DREAM CHILD – ROCKY

Community Hospice’s pediatric program, Community PedsCare, has chosen Rocky as our dream child for the 8th Annual Fishing for Dreams tournament. Rocky is an extremely happy 8 year old girl, who loves the outdoors. She always has a smile on her face and loves life. Rocky was born with Cerebral Palsy, Hydrocephalus, a severe Seizure Disorder, and is developmentally delayed. She amazes her parents and teachers with her slow, steady progress in all aspects of her life. In the last two years she has become very sociable, developed communication using words, being able to joyfully express herself in conversation and needs and wants.

Rocky has several siblings who also suffer from severe ailments. Kevin, 17, has Downs Syndrome. Jacob, 17, drew the picture for the back of FFD’s tournament shirts. Great job, Jacob! He suffers from spina bifida but it surely doesn’t slow him down much. He’s a real trooper. ChiChi, 9, and Paige, 8, have cerebral palsy. Little Tyger, 3, has a facial cranial disorder and is facing surgery in the near future. Brother Devin, 11, is well and is a big help to his sisters and brothers. The children’s dream is to have a backyard swing-set. FFD is happy to provide these very special children with wooden playground equipment which will include special needs swings, forts, a slide, chin-up bar and other extras. We hope the children will enjoy it for many years to come.

Beautiful weather prevailed on tournament day, and, once again, the community rallied around FFD’s very special children and graciously gave their support.  (Please see our impressive sponsor page.)  MDI Holdings, Inc., is our Grand Sponsor and First Coast Trailers donated a boat trailer as our top prize.  We have several new sponsors on board this year (welcome Silver Sponor Merrill Lynch) and other donors have doubled their donations (thank you Gold Sponsor St. Augustine Elks #829).  We are very thankful and blessed by all the support which enables FFD to fulfill dreams for the children.

The dream for playground equipment became a reality for Dream Child Rocky and her siblings, Chi-Chi, Paige, Jacob, Kevin, Devin and Tyger.  They are a delightful family (more children for us to fall in love with) and we appreciate the community’s support and the army of volunteers who make the dreams happen.

Anglers, sponsors and volunteers met the evening before the tournament to socialize and swap fish tales.  The highlight of the evening was the introduction of the Dream Family as well as welcoming back several of our former dream families.  We were so pleased to see Tierney, Alex and Jessica. The evening concluded with a huge raffle.  Congratulations to Nedra for winning the boat trailer, our top prize.

The weather was perfect on tournament day.  However, the noon-time low tide made for an interesting weigh-in.  The majority of the fish were brought to the weigh station about an hour before the scale closed.  Only 25 bass, 17 trout and 7 flounder were weighed, approximately half the usual number.  Congratulations to our winners: