I Don’t Mind Mondays
One thing I don’t mind – is putting my money where my mouth is.
Starting about this time of year, the “giving” months and “giving days” kick in all over the place, but seem to be becoming a bigger deal in my household. That’s all good around here, but I cannot remember ever tapping into the possibility and ever having the direct need for some “giving” from my fly fishing friends and the fly fishing community I report to – UNTIL NOW.
Clarity is Key
For the sake of clarity, and for details about the non-profit I am doing here in Denton, Texas, let me take a little bit of this Monday Morning’s read – to get this fresh information in front of your eyes.
I was asked if I would be interested in starting, from scratch, a fly tying program for military veterans at the Art Room in Denton, Texas. History on the Art Room is they already have art programs limited to, and designed for veterans going on RIGHT NOW.
Those veterans who are part of the Art Room art programs – are directed there by an organization, called Denton County Military Veteran Peer Network, an organization that is doing fantastic work in behalf of the thousands of veterans in Denton County, Texas. While the services they offer are broad, I think the business card for the Service Coordinator sums it up: – Meet Other Vets – Get Help & Support – Find Resources.
The Art Room Denton, and now myself, clearly fit that last service category, but not only the category; “Find Resources.” In my nearly twenty years of fly tying, that time spent at the vise has been a fantastic resource FOR ME to wind down, while winding up a fly, think about the fly rather than the world around me, and has added a layer of creativity, confidence and satisfaction to my fly fishing life. In fact, the benefits are so great, I have sought to share this art, locally, with any interested in learning, but with very little interest or success. Signing on to lead the Denton Veterans Fly Tying group? This was a complete no-brainer for me. If they sign up, they’re interested. Finally!
Fly Brains
But it did take some fly tying brains to get this brand new group off the ground. Veterans in the art programs had already perked up about the possibility of learning to tie flies in Denton. My job? Make it a reality, but in my mind, make it an efficient program that provides so much information, AND VIDEOS that it is possible for ANYONE to come on board – ANY TIME – and start down the fly tying rabbit hole of fun. And away we GO!
Gear Wrangling and Scheduling
Scheduling the new group, that is already taking size and shape, was our first order at the Art Room, located at 721 S. Locust St. in Denton (south of the Historic Square in Downtown), and we settled on a Veteran’s meeting every two weeks, beginning October 12th. at 9-am. That means we will be delaying a few meetings, and probably cancelling a few as we fly right in the face of the holiday season and North Texas winters. To me, that’s just Situation Normal here in North Texas. However, any veteran in the program can come tie a fly at the wonderful Roanoke Veteran’s Point location, and in the future we may be able to work something out at the Art Room Denton to make it more open as well.
Scheduling settled, I went to work procuring the needed vises and tools. My recent relationship with Wolff Industries, now Rambler Angler & Blade has been key to having TEN vises for both groups – the Roanoke and Denton groups now have five vises respectively, in each location – to get things off to a SOLID START. Don’t forget! Wolff makes great (fly tying) scissors too, and I have a batch of those for each location as well. The two locations will have plenty of scissors!
While I never heard a word from LOON OUTDOORS, I believed their tools would be very helpful to a group brand new to fly tying (great ergonomics and colors), so I decided to run an order through the Pro Program I am in with that company, and BOOM, a box of fly tying tools, from the good people at LOON, arrived here at Fish Camp North a few days ago!
Fly Tying “SoftWares” NEEDED Now!
So the hardware is ready to be demonstrated in a new video I will make this week. The Denton program still needs the basic pieces and parts that make up (to start with) the WOOLLY BUGGER and to continue with the CLOUSER MINNOW. And this is my outreach to YOU during these times of the year for giving. If you have read this far, perhaps I have inspired you to give to this/these program(s)? One instant way to donate funds to the Denton County Fly Tying Veterans program, is to click on the image you see on the left column of this website now. That will take you to a page on the DCMVPN website. BE SURE to write “Fly Tying Program” in the box for notes, and all of those funds will go to the program in Roanoke and Denton. NORTH TEXAS GIVING DAY LINK TO ART ROOM Fly Tying Program can go through here for maximum impact – North Texas Giving Denton Art Room
My Give for the remainder of September and all of October, is to donate ten-dollars from every Fly Mat I sell during this time – TO the Art Room’s Denton fly tying program, to try and perpetuate funding for supplies, and expansion (if it comes) – for the Veteran’s Fly Tying program at the Denton Art Room.
Tomorrow, I will continue to tell you about how the two programs – Denton and Roanoke Texas – tie together, and about the unique and fantastic opportunities beyond fly tying – that will be coming to each location.
To Be Continued …
Category: Body-Mind-Soul, Causes, Fly Fisher Health and Wellness, Fly Tying
