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Woo Daves, who won the BASSMASTER World Championship in 2000, annually hosts a fishing competition that bolsters the community around Spring Grove, Virginia, to raise funds for good causes.

For last year’s 23rd tournament, he choose Freedom Alliance as one of the organizations that would benefit from the event. Furthermore, he asked us to gather members of our armed services, who have been injured in combat, to participate in the fishing.

Gladly doing so, we put our guests up at a home in nearby Waverly. The cabin, owned by Robert and Jody Jones, sits on a 300-acre lake.

There the veterans had access to all kinds of boats and fishing equipment, as well as a friendly fire pit, around which they enjoyed chatting and carrying on with their fellow comrades. For some, the competition was fierce, while others were just happy to be fishing.

Among our crew, we had three Marines from the Wounded Warrior Battalion at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

From the Polytrauma Transitional Rehabilitation Inpatient Program (PTRIP) in Richmond, Virginia, we had two recreational therapists and two patients recovering from disabilities.

Two special forces fellows joined the team, as well as Army, Marine, and Air Force veterans.

All in all, there were thirteen service members (including the Navy Corpsman who is a PTRIP therapist), as well as three of the servicemen’s children.

It was, in fact, one of our Army veteran’s daughters, Mikayla, who won the entire tournament!

Woo Daves and his wife, Patty, collected a variety of items for a raffle and auction, including autographed pieces of wrecked NASCAR race cars. (The event is scheduled to coincide with the races in Richmond.)

The Daveses, along with their friends and neighbors, helped to raise thousands of dollars for Freedom Alliance to support wounded military, while also showing the veterans in attendance their appreciation for service to our country.