Tackle The Storm Foundation 2024 Ver: 2.0
The first two years of my life I was encased in plaster from under my arms all the way down to right above my ankles. Smiles were rare.
I’m told every couple of months my parents would take me to Buffalo Children’s Hospital where the Doc’s there would cut off the cast I came in with and then put on another bigger one on me, one I could grow into.
To be honest I don’t remember much of that, my father told me much later in life that they would put me down on the living room floor and come back an hour or so later and I’d still be there, “…didn’t need a babysitter.”
I’ve seen photos of me in a chair they modified so that I could be placed in front of our picture window where I could see the other kids on the block playing out there.
Again, I don’t remember the chair, don’t remember the names of the kids but I do to this day though remember the feeling of watching other children run and play, something inside of me even at that young age, felt bad, felt sad, felt different.
Different. Trust me on this, you can physically grow out of the cast. You don’t grow out of the childhood heartbreak of being left behind, it sticks to you.
if you have been left out, if you have been left behind that is the one cast that binds to you for life.
In my career I have not been left out of much, in my family, my children and my wife of soon to be 50 years of marriage I have been loved, nurtured, and included. But there are moments of remembrance, tiny moments of flashback pain and memories, you can see it in photos of me wearing baggy pants and shirts a size or two way to big. I don’t do, can’t do, tight. Perpetual motion, I’m always moving, can’t do still, can’t do stuck.
But what I can do is relate to those stuck looking out a window as the world goes by, what I can do is relate to those left behind, those never picked until the last team pick, and I’m going to do something about it for them. FOR THEM.
In this, now the 2nd decade of Tackle The Storm Foundation we are switching the mission from a storm related 501 (c ) ( 3 ) federally recognized public charity to a mission of finding children who because of their unique situation may get left behind only to watch as other children are taken fishing. The children never picked for a variety of reasons, now it is their turn. Their turn.
We are still a federally recognized non-profit. We still involve children with fishing. But we, but I promise you this: THERE WILL BE NO CHILDREN LEFT ON-SHORE, WE WILL BE INCLUSIVE OF ALL CHILDREN AND ALL THEIR NEEDS.
We will do whatever it takes so that no child will feel the heartbreak that sticks to you for a long, long, time. Inclusive, no excuses, no judgement, only caring, only understanding, and lots of love.
Our promise to you.
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