By: Ricardo Cavazos, VBR content editor
The years had passed for Fito since his last fishing trip.
A steady decline in health resulted in limits of his physical abilities. Once active in the outdoor life, the Brownsville resident had gone 15 years without fishing. Fito’s mother, Meg Beumel, thought those days were over for her son. Then via Facebook she heard of Fishing’s Future.
The nonprofit organization is based in South Padre Island and has chapters throughout the United States and Great Britain. Fishing’s Future got started in 2007 by its founder Shane Wilson. Its core mission is to bring families together through fishing. In June, Fishing’s Future launched a new effort with a remarkable goal. It sought to make fishing accessible to those with special needs.
Fito was among the first to try the new program. Sitting in a wheelchair on a specially modified boat, he threw a line out into the Laguna Madre. Within minutes, Fito had caught his first fish, bringing smiles all around.
“It was so amazing to see the joy and smile on his face after everything he has been through,” Beumel said of her son. “Fito said it was the best birthday ever.”
Finding A Purpose
Tim Lippoldt grew up an Island boy.
Fishing was a nearly everyday occurrence during those endless days of summer. A Port Isabel High School graduate, Lippoldt was living in the Dallas area when a terrible accident changed his life in an instant. He returned home as a paraplegic seeking to rebuild his life. It was during a brisk ride down Padre Boulevard in maneuvering his wheelchair down the street’s bicycle lane when he heard a voice come up behind him.
“I need your help.”
It was Shane Wilson of Fishing’s Future.
“I’m in a wheelchair,” Lippoldt said he replied. “Who needs me?”
It was this chance meeting that led to a partnership and a months-long joint project to use Lippoldt’s insights in building a custom-made boat. It’s a vessel called the “I Can.” The boat is fitted with tie-downs and accommodations for the wheelchair bound and those laying in medical beds. Helming the boat as its captain is Lippoldt after earning Coast Guard certifications.
“I never thought I’d be out on the water again,” he said. “Being part of this has given me a purpose. This is where I need to be, out there on the boat.”
I Can Brings Joy
Fishing’s Future’s I Can boat is docked at Jim’s Pier, rocking gently in the bay waters.
The 25-by-9-foot boat “floats skinny and stable,” Wilson said. He is a retired educator and Midwest native who moved to the Island in the mid-1990s. The organization he started 15 years ago has succeeded beyond his dreams, with over one million participants in its history. Wilson was casting about for a new challenge and fresh initiative for Fishing’s Future.
He found it with the idea to make fishing accessible for the special needs community. Wilson exudes enthusiasm and positive Island vibes, and he has thrown all of his considerable energy into Fishing’s Future new project. Going full throttle, he convinced the SPI City Council to pass a June 22 resolution that proclaimed the Island as the “Special Needs Sportfishing Capital of Texas.”
Wilson has big plans for the project in seeking more grants and donations to fund Fishing’s Future new initiative. The organization does not charge participants a fee for basic fishing lessons and taking them out on the bay.
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “What we’re doing here has national implications. Seeing the families and kids go out there, with the smiles and joy on their faces, it’s so nice to have this opportunity for them.”
The I Can captain feels the same way with a personal perspective that matches the special needs fishermen he takes out on the bay waters.
“I cry every day that we go out on the boat,” Lippoldt said. “They’re tears of joy.”
For more information on Fishing Future or to make a donation, visit fishingsfuture.org.
News Source: https://valleybusinessreport.com/industry/non-profit/project-casts-out-to-reach-special-needs/
Full credits to the owner of this article and photos.
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