“There was one 17 year-old boy. When we got there, he was off to the side and disinterested. The staff said that if he liked going out and going fly fishing, they’ll all follow.” Heather laughed, “and right then I made it my personal mission to get him on board!”
Heather Sees currently serves as the National Project Liaison for The Mayfly Project. Along with being a mentor for foster children within the program in her native Pennsylvania, she also offers support for other mentors in projects across the country. Prior to getting involved with The Mayfly Project, Heather lived in Colorado. There, she was president of the Greenbacks of Trout Unlimited. This young group of anglers was, and still is, all about conservation, education, and community. And in that context, Heather decided to reach out to kids.
“I signed up initially to be a part of a Big Brothers Big Sisters fishing event,” Heather recalled. “As a kid getting outside was what I liked, what benefited me. I wanted to share that with kids that never got out of the city.” Shortly after that experience, she came across The Mayfly Project on social media. “I reached out to Jess (Westbrook, TMP founder) and asked if they had anything I could get involved with in Colorado. He said, ‘no – want to start it?’”
She did just that. Tapping into her TU circles, she quickly got resources and volunteers. “We had seven or eight mentors that first year,” she said. “We all had really limited exposure to the foster care system. But that really didn’t matter; they’re just kids, and their situation isn’t their fault. We decided to just treat them like kids and help them have a good time!”
In her opinion, fly fishing helps foster kids for the same reason it helps Heather and so many other people. “Honestly, I think that it is because you get to disconnect from everything else for a bit. You’re thinking about that next cast or next mend. These kids have a lot – too much for a kid to handle. For just a few hours they don’t have to think about anything else besides casting, mending, and feeling the water come over their boots.” The mentor/mentee relationship has an active component as well, she explained. “As we’re fishing, it is easy to show them that we make mistakes, too. Even though ‘we know what we’re doing.’ There is another cast and another fish. You just move on. And it is great to learn that in nature, having someone stand by your side.”
Heather’s enthusiasm for the children and teenagers in The Mayfly Project is contagious. She has recruited others to get involved, including multiple members of her own family. To her, it is an easy sell for anyone with interest in helping kids who can really use it. “People know the benefits of fly fishing for them. So immediately they understand how it will work. But people are nervous if they haven’t worked with foster kids before. I myself had to strip the foster label away and realize they’re just kids who want that opportunity to connect. Fly fishing is a tool for helping them on this difficult path.”
Every trip is an opportunity to connect. Every cast is a tool for helping children facing truly difficult circumstances. But every volunteer means more opportunities and more casts. As Heather, and dozens more volunteers can attest, fly fishing can do some remarkable things.
“So, third trip in.” Heather continued her story about the standoffish 17 year-old. “He hadn’t said a lot. But standing in the river with him he looked over to me and said, ‘Hey miss. Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule for fishing with us and teaching us. You haven’t judged me and you make us feel safe out here.’ I was speechless! This teenage boy that didn’t want anything to do with the program at first, who still hadn’t caught a fish, was really excited to be out there on the water and with me.”
The trout matter. The casting matters. The river matters. But hearing the stories of mentors and kids in The Mayfly Project, it is easy to agree with Heather when she concluded her story by saying, “It isn’t about fishing.”
There are plenty of ways to help children in foster care with fly fishing through The Mayfly Project. You can gift financial or gear donations. Or, you can do what Heather did and become a mentor in the program. The gift of mentorship is a gift of time, which means so much to the children we work with. You don’t have to be a professional fly fisher or social worker, they are looking for people who are dedicated to improving the lives of children and can commit to their projects.
For information on these ways to help, as well as more stories and links to local projects, head to The Mayfly Project’s website.
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