×

NEWS & STORIES

Announcements & Press
All
Announcements
Dispatches from Atz Kilcher
In The News
PHW Spotlight
Press Releases
By Location
All
Alabama
Alaska
Florida
Georgia-South Carolina
Kentucky-Ohio
Mid-South
Midwest
National Capital
New England
New Jersey
New York-New Jersey
North-Carolina
Northern New York
Northwest
Pennsylvania
Regional
Rocky Mountain Northeast
Rocky Mountain Northwest
Rocky Mountain South
South Central
Southern New York
Southwest
Tennessee-Valley
The Heartland
Virginia
West Virginia
By Event
All
2018 2-Fly
Broadmoor Invitational
Freedom Ranch for Heroes
Healing Saturday
Hike to Heal Veterans
HoF NOVA
Holy Waters
Mossy Creek Invitational
Phil Johnson Exceptional Leadership Award

Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing (PHWFF) takes great pleasure in presenting the Phil Johnson  Exceptional Leadership Award to Al Warner for his dedicated and inspiring service to our  organization from 2013 to 2021. During this period, his selfless effort and extreme generosity  were directly responsible for the growth and continuous improvement to the PHWFF Walter Reed  National Military Medical Center Program in Bethesda, Maryland. 

During this time, Al directly led all aspects of the program’s administration and management.  Through his tireless efforts the program provided exceptional fly tying, fly rod building, fly  casting, fly fishing education, and fly fishing outing program activities for the program’s  participants. Always the consummate volunteer, Al continually places the participants’ needs and  wants as his highest priority. Attentive to detail, Al always knows the specific focus for each  participant to succeed – fly tying, fly casting, knots, stream entomology – and always lending a  friendly ear. 

Through the years, Al organized and executed numerous fly fishing outings for the program’s participants. These outings occurred at no cost to the participants and were donated as a direct  result of Al’s supreme networking abilities and a genuine care for our veterans. He also organizes  the Program’s weekly activities based on the need of our participants – some tying flies, some fly  casting or fly rod building, and others covering stream entomology or some other form of fly  fishing education. This balance of activities relative to the participants’ interests served to sustain 

and strengthen the Program. Al also organized the Armed Forces Retirement Home fly fishing  outing every month. This outing is an outstanding venue to introduce the program’s participants fly casting and landing fish.  

Al served as an excellent teacher, mentor, and servant-leader to this program. His dedication to  our Core Values: Compassion, Accountability, Excellence, and Community allowed him to create  an active and impactful program that provides a pathway towards post-traumatic growth for our  participants. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he also served as a conduit to keep our participants  and volunteers connected in the virtual environment thereby ensuring the program remained a  community where our participants can heal. 

His commitment to our Cause inspired all volunteers and participants involved in the program to  become a stronger team and to build better friendships. All who know Al will attest to the positive  impact the program made on their lives and the role model of selfless devotion, mentoring, and  leadership he provided to them. 

Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. is proud to bestow upon Al Warner the Phil Johnson  Exceptional Leadership Award for his tireless and extraordinary service to our organization and to  those wounded, ill, and injured Servicemen and Servicewomen and disabled Veterans whom this  organization serves.

Latest News