By Melissa Centofanti
A lot of us were shooting texts from Publix over Memorial Day weekend, to someone well versed in ground chuck and grass fed. We loaded the cart with charcoal and booze and maybe something patriotic if Publix was running a promotion. And that’s OK; we’re free to enjoy ourselves accordingly.
While we were prepping for a barbecue, Capt. Neal Stark was fueling his BassCat, sorting lures and skimming a detailed lunch list. I used to take pride in my premeditated, dangly earring display until I caught wind of Capt. Stark’s Culprits, organized by color. I say “organized” with major conviction… like blueberry blue and June bug blue will not be integrated. He’s all heart, and it has had a ripple effect, literally and figuratively, consistently for the past seven years since he founded Fishing With America’s Finest.
Fishing With America’s Finest, a non-profit organization, provides piscatorial therapy, empowering days of fishing therapy for U.S. Military Veterans and their families in the Florida Everglades. Capt. Neal Stark focuses on bringing our veterans home, in every sense of the word.
Though physically back on American soil, some veterans’ minds are rigged with triggers as the result of mental trauma. Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder brought about by traumatically stressful events, events that cause intense fear and feelings of helplessness. PTSD is its own war zone, and while statistics show that over 20 percent of veterans are diagnosed with PTSD, Capt. Stark believes the rate to be much higher. PTSD isn’t curable, but it is “cope-able,” and Capt. Stark sets the stage for healing with tools for both the mind and the matter. Rods calm the hands, and the boat provides space to share the story of why those hands shake.
In the Everglades, silence is equally therapeutic as conversation, and somewhere between the needle grass and the skill of the perfect cast, a transformation happens. Veterans are reacquainted with the rhythm of their hands and the cadence of connecting with Capt. Stark and fellow veterans. The anxiety dissipates, and the bond between those on board strengthens. The Everglades are a blank canvas, and whether it be casual small talk, silence, or heart to hearts, the day is theirs for the healing.
Riding with FWAF, I remember Capt. Stark teaching the slow-and-low strategy because moving rods an inch above the water will move plastic worms three times that underneath. I believe the same applies to the veterans on Capt. Stark’s boat. An afternoon skimming the sawgrass and the source of their stress is having an effect internally. These veterans come to the dock in the morning masking their anxiety and leave basking in a better version of themselves. Less solemn more soothed, less anxious more relaxed, they head back in the afternoon leaving echoes of trash talk and a wake of laughter. Riding back in, I find a cleat to cling to and gratitude for our veterans defending our home, gratitude for those helping them transition back into theirs.
Approaching 600 outings with Military Veterans, Fishing With America’s Finest is changing lives one cast at a time.
Learn more about FWAF at fishingwithamericasfinest.org.
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