Feb 25, 2016 Mtg - Purple Heart Anglers - Magic of the Coastside

The program was established in 2009. Randy's brother was a Vietnam veteran who won two purple hearts as a result of being shot and of losing fingers to an explosive device. He subsequently taught ROTC and was a liaison to the National Guard. He retired in 2009 he was honored as a Veteran of the Year and inducted into the Arizona Purple Heart Hall Of Fame. Randy describes how when he saw his brother receiving that latter award, his brother appeared to be a different person. The infirmities caused by a stroke, diabetes and numerous other health problems seem to Randy to disappear in this context. Randy wanted to do something to honor his brother so he volunteered to send him and some other veterans on a hunting trip to Arizona. His brother told him that it was too hot to go hunting in Arizona but that a lot of veterans liked fishing. His brother suggested contacts in the military and by 2010, under military auspices, the program had been born. Eventually it spun off into an independent organization and it now has 501 (C) status as a nonprofit. To date, Randy and his volunteers have served 1500 disabled veterans. As Randy says, "they hunt, fish and eat all over the place". They run fishing trips in lakes, reservoirs and rivers and  have over 100 boats manned by volunteers that participate. They charter boats to take veterans on ocean fishing trips out of Half Moon Bay and they have taken fishing trips to Alaska and next year they hope to take veterans to Costa Rica.

They have another upcoming fundraiser on the Peninsula on March 18. This will be a dinner with dancing and raffles in the Lagoon Room on Foster City Blvd.

Randy described the challenges of serving these veterans. On their last fishing trip to Alaska one of their veterans was Lou who was 80 years old and suffered from dementia. Although Lou has trouble remembering what he did 10 minutes ago, he can't stop telling friends and family about the fishing trip of his life to Alaska. They have pontoon boats to accommodate veterans in wheelchairs and they even have a quad (that is a four-wheel off-road vehicle) that has been modified to carry a wheelchair. Randy has a dog that has been trained to hold a pheasant in one place while that quad is driven into position so that the veteran can shoot the bird. Randy said that he learned a great deal about who his brother was by talking to other veterans. He also expressed appreciation for organizations like the Rotary in Half Moon Bay. Randy was raised here, and when he was a child it was a much smaller community. For a long time, for him, that community had disappeared. Rotary support has helped him to appreciate the fact that community still exists in our town.

When Deborah was asked to come up and speak about how this volunteering experience had affected her, that set off a real vaudeville act between spouses who have been married for 46 years. She accused him of usurping some of her lines and told him to sit down and he was trying to get her on point for her presentation. She described being gently sucked into volunteering. She is on the organization's board as the secretary. She told us how, on her very first fishing trip, she was manning the table giving out snacks to the disabled veterans. There was no eye contact nor even simple thank you as she distributed food. When these men returned from their fishing, they seemed like changed people. They were laughing and teasing and lying about their fish and interacting with her in a positive fashion. Deborah also pointed out that she's caught more fish in recent years than Randy because he's always helping the veterans. She also talked about how having this opportunity to serve others had an impact upon her husband. She called it being "outside of himself". She explained instead of focusing on his own needs he was invested in helping others. Isn't "Service above Self" a cool idea?