12th Annual Fishing Derby held for local Veterans

CHAPIN, SC (WOLO) — The Troop Appreciation Foundation out of Chapin hosted its 12th Annual Fishing Derby for local Veterans Thursday morning.

Kicking off at 4:30 a.m. at the Lake Murray Sailing Club, over 60 Veterans were treated to breakfast before heading out on the water.

“Well that rod bent down one time and I thought I had a really big fish and then it popped back up and there was no fish,” says Army Veteran Joseph Beemer.

But no fish, no worries.  The day is about much more than the catch, with many of the Veterans being wounded or having PTSD from their time in service.

“Some of the days for some Veterans are those good days are not close enough together. You want to have as many of those days consecutively as you can. And it’s hard for some Veterans to come back and adjust to civilian life or whatever it might be. But this is a good day. And you want to keep having good days after this. Just make sure this day leads to another good day,” Beemer says.

Once back to shore, the Vets’ catches are weighed and filleted — and then, the Vets also treated to a free lunch.

Volunteers with the Wounded Warrior Project and Dominion Energy also help make the day a success.

Keller Kissan, Dominion Energy of SC’s President, says its their way of saying thank you.

“We want to say you matter. We want to say you’re important to us and this community. We want to say we appreciate you and what better way to do that than to say come on out here with these wonderful boat captains who volunteer their gasoline, their boats, their equipment, so they can have a peaceful day on the lake,” he says.

The Troop Appreciation Foundation’s President Michael Glover says prizes are given out to Veterans with the largest and heaviest catch of the day — with prizes including a Honda generator, grills, Yeti coolers, DeWalt power equipment, and items from Ace Hardware.

“I’ve met two types of people in my life. People who care and people who couldn’t care less. The people you see here today, they care. This is our definition of thank you for your service. We put some skin on the bones today boys. We want these folks to leave here and know folks in Chapin and folks in SC have a high regard for what they did for their country,” says Glover.

He also reports that around 250 fish are caught during the derby.