As a Veteran, a healthcare executive, and an angler, I have witnessed first-hand the lifesaving power of our program.
NEWS & STORIES
Stories from the field
PHW Martinez Celebrates “Friends on the Water”
11.15.24
California
Martinez
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By Brian Miller, PHW Martinez
On November 2nd, the Diablo Valley Fly Fishers and PHW celebrated their 3rd annual “Friends on the Water,” welcoming over 60 attendees for a morning of friendship, camaraderie, and good food!
We were honored to welcome Blain Tomlinson, Chairman of the Project Healing Waters Board of Trustees, as our keynote speaker. Blain is a Marine Corps Veteran with over 2 decades executive experience in medical devices, healthcare systems, and life sciences. Appointed as Board Chairman in 2021, Blain has taken every opportunity to support our disabled Veterans in any way he can. Blain recognized Diablo Valley Fly Fishing and Project Healing Waters Martinez for the strong community of volunteers that have made PHW Martinez one of the top programs in the country. “It’s all about the healing. The volunteers provide the love, expertise, and environment, while the Veteran participants provide the camaraderie and healing secret sauce.” For his support, we presented Blain with an inscribed copy of photographer Val Atkinson’s special book “Friends on the Water: Fly Fishing in Good Company.”
We then recognized key DVFF/PHW volunteers for their incredible service this year in support of our Veteran participants:
Cheryl O’Neill, Bill Gallogly, Mike Healy, Ken Gotelli – Fly Casting Workshops
Steve Spiller, Larry Griffis – Fly Tying Workshops
Wayne Hofer, Brett Eckert – Fly Rod Building Workshops
Alan Christian – Bug Basics Workshops
Mark Likos – Foundational Fly Fishing Workshops
John Kreiter – PHW NorCal Auction
Barry Zacharias – Friends on the Water Program
Henry Little, Steve Foster, Cal Nakanishi – PHW San Francisco Leaders
David Lipscomb – PHW Martinez Founder, Fundraising Leader
And for the highlight of our event, David Lipscomb presented the first annual “David Lipscomb Volunteer of the Year Award” to Al Peterson! David highlighted Al’s unrelenting focus on the PHW Mission over many years. Al’s contributions are too numerous to mention, but here are a few highlights:
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Led PHW Martinez efforts to get our annual online auction fundraiser started and still going strong after 10 years, helping us raise over $200,000 to fund over 100 group overnight fly fishing outings
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Played a major role in revising the DVFF/PHW Memorandum of Agreement to focus on our mission
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As DVFF President and PHW volunteer, led us through COVID with an increased mission-oriented focus on Safety, helping to kick-start the “Friends on the Water” program, and receiving the Project Healing Waters Club Excellence Award for outstanding and sustained support
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Has been a preferred leader on many PHW group overnight outings, especially on his home Oregon waters and his network of guide friends
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Al is simply fun to be around … his humor is infectious and his ‘engineering’ approach to selling always gets the job done
David closed with a quote about Al from a former Project Healing Waters CEO. “Thank you so much for your dedication and leadership to ensure the long-term success of the PHW Martinez Program. DVFF and its membership are truly an amazing community where our participants can heal! Your commitment to our cause has ensured that the words … ‘this program saved my life’ … are certain for many years ahead of us.”
Thank you Al, well deserved!
