Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Teach a child to fish, and you may spark a lifetime love of the outdoors.
That’s the aim of the annual Sgt. Tommy’s Kids Family Fishing Day at Herrick Lake in Wheaton, the 9th edition of which was held Saturday. The event is sponsored by the Sgt. Thomas M. Gilbert Memorial Foundation in honor of the 24-year-old Downers Grove Marine by that name killed while serving in Iraq in 2006.
Now, Gilbert’s love of fishing and the outdoors is shared with roughly 300 children one day each summer, including my three kids among the nearly 50 from Naperville this year. As the youngsters baited the hooks on the complimentary poles given to them as part of the event – along with mini tackle boxes, T-shirts and snacks – you couldn’t help but appreciate the spirit of the event.
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“The Sgt. Tommy’s Kids Family Fishing Day was created to teach children about the outdoors and get them excited about spending time outside,” reads the event’s description on sgttommyskids.org. “The fishing day is a way for us to encourage families to spend time together outdoors, and we host the event in appreciation of services provided by military, police and fire personnel.”
All things considered, you really couldn’t complain about 90-degree temps and drenching humidity on this summer’s hottest day to date. Not when you know the sacrifices Gilbert and countless others before him have made to ensure we can appreciate life’s little diversions, like a relaxing day at the lake.
I still remember the first time I went fishing. All of 4 or 5 years old at the time, I was so excited to catch a few small, wriggling bluegills with my dad and his dad. Dozens of suburban kids enjoyed that experience for the first time Saturday.
“This year we reached a milestone where we’ve given out our 2,000th fishing pole to a child,” said Wally Faber, a Sgt. Thomas M. Gilbert Memorial Foundation volunteer who lives in Lisle, one of seven foundation board members primarily from Downers Grove and now scattered throughout the Western Suburbs. “Thirty-five percent of the kids that were there this year had never fished before. And for 50 percent, this was their first time fishing with Sgt. Tommy’s Kids.”
My children fall into that group – we’ve fished, but not often. It’s not typically the first thing they or I think to do, save for occasionally on one of our camping trips. And in the days since Sgt. Tommy’s Kids Family Fishing Day, my youngest has even asked when we can go fishing again. Something tells me Sgt. Tommy would be proud.
At first, the event was held exclusively for the children of military personnel, police officers and firefighters but three years ago expanded to be for all kids ages 3 to 15. Now, Sgt. Tommy’s Kids Family Fishing Day welcomes up to 300 kids each year.
“Three-hundred is where we’re comfortable, which means I think eventually we’ll push 350,” Faber said. “I think if we go bigger than 350, we’d have to find a new venue. At 300, we have issues with parking. Parking is probably our biggest logistical problem.”
It takes roughly 50 volunteers to put on the day’s activities, Faber said, including not just the fishing, but also a casting clinic, crafts and a lunch afterward for the roughly 650 people who attend. All of which is paid for by donations large and small, much of which comes from the foundation’s annual golf outing, to be held this year on Sept. 26 at Village Greens of Woodridge golf course. Corporate donations and matching gifts also help, as does the support of groups like the DuPage County Marine Corps League and the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance.
All because of Gilbert, and the legacy he left behind.
“He loved his family, the outdoors and the Marines,” Faber said. “There are pictures of him playing soccer with kids in the Horn of Africa. Pictures of him hunting and fishing, and that’s part of the reason we chose Herrick Lake, because that’s where his grandfather taught him how to fish.”
And now Sgt. Tommy is helping teach kids to fish too, if only in spirit.
Posted on sgttommyskids.org is a letter Gilbert wrote to his parents while away at college, thanking them for all they had done.
“I hope I can let my kids someday experience as much of life as I have been able to so they are well rounded in all aspects of life,” Gilbert wrote to end the letter. “If I am half the parents you are I will be happy. Love – Tom.”
Hence the event’s name.
“This has become an inspiration as to what we want to do with this foundation. To let children ‘experience as much of life’ as Tommy was able to experience,” the website reads. “He did not have kids of his own, but knowing the kind of person he was will guide us.”
Faber and the other volunteers take that mission to heart.
“Our whole thing is to get kids outside and get them excited to do things they wouldn’t do otherwise,” Faber said. “The letters we get from parents, the kids are so excited.
“To hear a little kid say ‘I caught one, I caught one, I caught one’ makes every penny spent worth it,” Faber said of the catch-and-release event, “even if it was just a tiny little bluegill.”
Twitter: @RobManker
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Rob Manker is a freelance writer who lives, works, parents in Naperville.