Wouldn’t-miss-it ARM Event!

As the Big Brothers Big Sisters representative from St. Cloud, I would like to personally thank all of you fine ARM folks for so generously giving of your time, talents, energy, and resources this past Friday! I’m not sure if words can adequately express what this event means to the kids we bring down….perhaps the Little Brother who sat behind me on the bus said it best, “I want to go fishing again!” Anyone care to guess how many times an excited 8-year old can say that in the time it took for us to return to St. Cloud? Let’s just say A LOT! Did I mention he sat right behind me and leaned forward to make sure he had my ear? He had fun.

Special thanks to Francis and Shane – I enjoyed your company and appreciate you getting me on the water in the a.m. Thanks for the bassin’ education as well. And to Bill, your granddaughter and Catfish Girl – thanks for taking me out in the p.m. and sharing some of your walleye wisdom (and beverages) with me. Also, a BIG thank you to James, Shane, and the staff at Evert’s for all of the work that must have gone into preparing for the event.

We all had a great time – yes, all 38 of us! I’ll do more posting as additional feedback comes in. Wishing I was on the water right now…. Thanks all!

Erin Brown
[email protected]

(An e-mail I received from a Big Brother):

Speaking of the Fishing Trip, we had a great time. Nick caught a bunch of fish including four Walleyes. These were Nick’s first Walleyes and three of them were big enough to keep. We had a fish fry that night when we got back to his house. I couldn’t believe how much fishing tackle they gave to the kids. Our fishing guide, Mike Wenther was super nice and shared a great day with us. I really appreciate BBBS and ARM for sponsoring the event. I know this will be one of Nick’s favorite memories. He’ll never forget the trip when he caught his first Walleyes.

Thanks again.

Steve

Erin,

I am sure I can say that just seeing the smiling faces on all of the kids all day long is more than enough thanks!! I am thankfull that we had such a beautiful day and the fish where bitting. with the event already past us, I am soo looking forward to next years event.

again, thanks for all of your hard work on your end of things, I was glad to see you make it down and sorry for not being able to catch you more fish than that one tiny tiny 1.4lb large mouth bass. but anyway, maybe some day, I can run the hooptie up there and we can head out for the day up around your neck of the woods.

shane

(Another Big Brother e-mail):

Kyle and I had a blast! We hope a fishing trip like
this will be offered for years to come. Our pro was
really nice and was very helpful and taught us new
techniques to catch more fish. We were treated really
nice by all pro fishermen and Everts resort employees.
All the donations were more then I expected. It was a
time I will never forget. I think Kyle’s cheeks began to
start hurting, he had a huge smile all day long.
Thanks for everything!! We are looking forward to the
next event!

Thanks again for everything,

Kyle (Little)
Nick (Big)

Way cool!

(E-mail from a Big Couple):

We thought the event was excellent overall and the ARM personnel should be highly commended. Our little, Cory, was flabbergasted at the fishing equipment he received. It sounds like a lot of the kids did use their new fishing rods so that’s super.

Some things to pass along to the ARM group….Our guide worked all night and drove an hour to take us out fishing and that’s impressive. We were impressed with how some of the guides/volunteers really visited with Little/Bigs including going through the line to get tackle and eating with them. It was wonderful to see the number of men/women giving time on a Friday/work day to put on this event. The lunch was well organized and adequate beverages for the hot day were available. We would definitely attend this event again.

Thank you!

Denise and Duane

keep em coming Erin, it is nice to hear such encouraging words straight from thier mouths. i sure wish i could have been a fly on the bus wall to see how long them smiles did last after you all left for the day. once again, thanks a ton for sharing these great words of encouragement for all of the volunteers.

shane

Shane,

I’ve been with BBBS for almost 6 years now and the ARM event is the most talked about, most remembered, and most anticipated event that we’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of. The smiles and memories generated from this single day last a long time. On the bus ride down one match was reliving their highlights from the 2002 ARM Event, so those smiles you made reference to last for years. Thanks again to ARM and IDA members; you’re a great bunch!

Erin
[email protected]

(Here’s an e-mail from Big Brother Joe, his Little Brother is Casey. I would like everyone to know that this is very typical of the comments I hear from our matches that attend ARM events):

All I can say is WOW!. This event has got to be the best that we have attended. It is very well organized and action packed. We were treated like we were important. The whole day was an interesting story. To see the kids smile is all you need to say that it is an experience that they will never forget. This event fits the theme of little moments big magic to a tee. I all my years I haven’t seen Casey or others kids more excited then that day.

Thanks

Joe

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(Please note: Little moments…Big magic is a tagline used by Big Brothers Big Sisters. Joe has been a volunteer Big Brother with us for 14 years).

Erin Brown
[email protected]

Here is an e-mail I recived from Amanda that I wanted to share, this here is what it is all about guys and the smile on Lexi’s face says it all!!!

Quote:

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Dear Steve,
I wanted to thank you again for taking Lexi and I fishing. It really meant a lot to her; she really had a blast. She dose not get many opportunities to partake in activates like that and she really enjoys the one on one time. It was a very memorable day for the both of us. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Amanda

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Once again, I really had a good time. Here is a picture of Mitchell with a couple of keepers. The smile says it all.