On Monday June 19 four volunteers from FATC met up at Children’s Hospital for another fly tying event with the patients at Children’s Hospital.  Allen Blair, Dan Staggenborg, Jim Craig and Steve Baker met up with Melody DeWeese at the security desk on the second floor entrance to Children’s.  After going through the check in procedure Melody escorted us to the eighth floor where the patient’s activities rooms are located and also an outdoor garden area.  Fortunately for us on this day it was a perfect day and we were able to set up outside.  After setting up the tables Al, Dan, and Jim started tying some flies and within a few minutes word got out and some of the patients wanted to see what was going on.  The children were allowed to pick out the colors and type of feathers they wanted on their safety pin to give it a personal touch.

As an added surprise for all the patients and staff, I was able to borrow a Mammal’s Trunk from the Missouri Department of Conservation.  This trunk is full of animal pelts, paw prints and the skulls of the different animals which I set out on the table for the patients and their families to explore as they came into the outdoor area.  Everyone loved the way the pelt furs felt and some of the children would try to guess what the different animals were.  Some even tried to match the paw prints with the correct animal.

This by far was the most successful event at Children’s so far.  The Covid fears and the threat of RSV has died down and more patients are able to take part in some of the activities.  There were a couple of patients unable to go outside so Al Blair volunteered to go inside and tie them some flies.

As I’ve said before this is one of the more rewarding community service events that we participate in and it’s too bad that we can’t take pictures of the patients so you would see the smiles on their faces as they walk away with the fly that was tied for them.

The day was over far too quickly and as we packed up our gear and helped the staff put away the tables and chairs, we were saying our good-byes.  I’d like to offer a super big THANK YOU to the volunteers of FATC that gave up some of their own free time for a good cause.  We can all be proud of our Fellowship.  Anyone who was around when we fished with the patients at Ranken Jordan knows how much fun that is.  Keep your eyes on the calendar and volunteer early, this event fills up quickly.

Thank You,

Steve Baker

FATC Community Service Lead