SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Members of the military often feel as if they have a family they can relate to thanks to similar experiences on the battlefield and in the military. The camaraderie helps just as much as the hands-on activity. Fly fishing provides veterans with an opportunity to share stories with people who understand their situation, while physical activities give the nervous system something to focus on other than a traumatic injury.
Warriors Never Give Up, a local Christian nonprofit is partnering with the local chapter of Project Healing Waters to demonstrate the benefits of fly fishing. Healing Waters meets the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays from 5 pm to 6:30 pm at the Outdoor Campus at Sertoma Park in Sioux Falls. Winter activities include fly-tying and rod-building. Participants learn to tie their own flies and fill up their fly boxes for the upcoming year. The rod building program is in coordination with a national contest in which participants can compete against veterans throughout the country if they wish. Winners are awarded destination fishing trips.
Warriors Never Give Up has added fly fishing to its 2020 fishing events and will be hosting 8 combat or service-connected disabled Veterans for a fly-fishing trip to the Black Hills, May 8 – 10, 2020. To be eligible for the event, veterans must participate in the winter Healing Waters program. There is no cost for the winter program or the Black Hills trip.
“We often see the spontaneous spiritual healing that takes place when veterans participate in our hunting and fishing events, stated Richard Ambrosius of Warriors Never Give UP. “Veterans shared similar experiences and many combat veterans battle the same demons.”
