Fair Haven All Aboard Weekend (Wounded Warriors and Special Needs Kids)

[Morgan-E]

           Fair Haven will be hosting Wounded Warriors and Special Needs kids on June 19th through the 21st out of Anchor Resort and Marina.  It is run through the All Aboard Fair Haven Fishing Association and has grown over the years.  This year Fair Haven is anticipating 24 - 30 veterans and another 24 - 30 kids. 

          The veterans coming this year range from recent wounded enlisties to a possible World War II Veteran.  They will be arriving Friday and there will be  a village parade honoring them at 6:00PM.  Local businesses are playing a big part in this effort with donated facilities, rooms, and cabins for them to stay in and helping to supply meals.  This is a true community effort (near and far - donations from as far away as a fire company in Ogdensburg NJ, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire) and everyone is trying to give what they can to make it another special event.

           The veterans arrive Friday and are able to fish off of the docks at Anchor Marina and relax by the water for the afternoon.  Then at 6:00 the local fire station crew, Veterans, Freedom Riders, Car Club, and Captains proceed through the town to the American Legion where the guests of honor are treated to a full dinner.  They then head back to Anchor to hang out, fish, cook marshmallows, etc... until they retire for the evening. 

          On Saturday they meet at Anchor for a breakfast donated by stores and establishments in town and are given a goody tray for the boat.  They are then broken up into small groups of 2-3 and will spend the morning with various captains who are donating their time and boats trying to hook into a "big" one.  Upon returning to Anchor they are treated to a chicken barbeque and are publicly thanked for all that they have done and are presented with gifts of appreciation before they depart from Fair Haven.

 

           On Sunday morning a group of children from various organizations come to Fair Haven and meet at Anchor for some light snacks before heading out on the bay to drown some worms in hopes of having their rods wiggle.  For many of these kids it is their first time on a boat and holding a rod in their hands.  After a few hours of fishing on the bay they return to Anchor and are treated to a kids barbeque.  Each kid is able to take their rod home with them in hopes that they use them again.

 

We need your help / what you can do.

If you will be in Fair Haven Friday evening try to make it to Main Street for the parade at 6:00PM.

 

If you are going to be fishing out of Fair Haven on Saturday you can help put additional fish in the boats for these veterans.  If you happen to get a program working (speed, direction, color, depth etc..) please share it on the radio, channel 72.  Last year we had people help out with information and it resulted in more rods wiggling and more smiles on the boats.  If you are thinking about heading to FH to fish this would be that other reason to do so.  We will be out with the veterans from 6 to noon.

 

If you are not going to be able to fish on Saturday or want to help out in an additional way, money is needed to secure additional rooms and gifts of appreciation for these veterans who have served us all, as well as enough rods for each of the kids to use and take home.

 

Any checks can be made out to AllAboard FHFA (just as it is typed without a space) and dropped off at Anchor Resort and Marina or Screwy Louies Sportshop or mailed to:

 

AllAboard Fair Haven Fishing Association

PO Box 566

Fair Haven NY 13064

 

Thank you in advance for your support of this effort and thanks to Alan Avrich and Cindy Borozny for their efforts organizing this event.

Edited June 3, 2015 by Morgan-E

[Morgan-E]

We just got word that Fair Haven will be hosting over thirty veterans this coming weekend.  A big thank you to all who are helping make this experience a success.

 

Now say a few extra prayers that the weather is good and the fish are biting.

[Morgan-E]

_{We just received word that 42 veterans are signed up to come to FH this Friday and Saturday.  We presently have 15 boats signed up to help out with this effort.}

_{See the above post for how you can help out with this community thank you to those who have given so much for us all.}

 

_{Attached please find an itinerary for the two days with the veterans.}

 

Itinerary for those involved with the Fair Haven WW effort hosted.pdf

Edited June 17, 2015 by Morgan-E

[Morgan-E]

Thank you to everyone who made this past weekend a success.  The weather was good, the fishing was tough but everyone returned with smiles and experiences that they would not have had without all of you, and on Sunday the "special" kids had a lot of fun on the bay.

 

First Fish Award went to Captain Werner and Crew of Popeye

Largest Brown Trout went to Captain Aaron Dingy and Crew of Playin Hookey

Largest Salmon award went to Captain Ed Derry and Crew of Landing Craft

 

I will be posting some pictures as I get them so that others can see what went on this past weekend.  We are already planning for next year (2016) June 17,18, and 19.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Morgan-E

[Morgan-E]

If you have any pictures from this past weekend's event, please post as well.

[Richard]

Morgan E,

Thank you very much for the hard work that you obviously put in to make this past weekend a great success. This was my first year helping out with assisting on one of the many boats you put together. I can not wait till next year. What a great time.

Thank you again and please thank your daughters for all they did.

Richard

[bout time]

It was a great event. I met many wonderful young men and women. Already have it booked for next year

[Morgan-E]

Here are some other pictures from this weekend.  There are quite a few more with descriptions on the Fair Haven All Aboard facebook page and the Fair Haven Fishing Association facebook page.  There were a total of 15 boats that participated over the 2 days and another that was ready to go, but unfortunately had an engine issue.  All of these pictures were taken at Anchor Resort and Marina.  Again there were a lot of people and businesses involved in this effort and Alan will be listing them in the local Fair Haven paper with an article about the past weekend.