Two local fishermen have helped raise millions of dollars for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital through the
Dick Hiley St. Jude Bass Classic, and are looking for more people to help this year.
Fishermen Corey Waller and David Truax have been involved in the Dick Hiley St. Jude Bass Classic for many years, and said to KDWA News the tournament came from wanting to put together an event that would be fun and go towards a great cause.
“St. Jude will always and forever be my charity of choice. And it’s almost hard to put into words, but for me, if I could pick one or two things out that really took me back, where it’s this hospital where kids are fighting the darkest days of their lives, and yet it’s probably one of the happiest places you’ve ever seen. I say this all the time, it’s almost cliche, but it is. You got all these bald-headed little kids running around, and they’re all having a good time because, you know, St. Jude truly is a place of hope. And they’re where they need to be. And hope is one of the greatest medicines in the world. And that’s what they do. They give families and their kids hope.”
Nearly $10 million has been raised through previous tournaments, and they are looking to eclipse that mark this year.
“Truly a testament of when you get a bunch of people banded together with a like mission, going in the right direction, what you truly can accomplish if everybody kind of bands together and tries to go after something. Dave and I have been doing this together for quite a few years, and I think we’re pushing the $100,000 mark. Personally, before Dave and I were partners, I had other guys that I fished with, so I’m pushing the $200,000 mark myself. This year will be close, if not next year, but this year, our 26th year, this will be our third year that we’re probably going to break a million dollars collectively, and if we do 1.3 this year, we’ll break the $10 million mark, you know, in aggregate of everyone that has been part of this tournament 26 years, we’ll break $10 million that we’ve given to the kids at St. Jude.”
The public can help out by donating funds or participating in fundraiser events coming up tomorrow.
“We do a giant meat raffle every year, and this year it’s going to be at Langer’s Bar in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. One o’clock on Saturday, rain or shine, we got tents and heaters and everything ready to go. And I just, last weekend, smoked a bunch of pork butts and we’re doing pulled pork sandwiches.
So it’s gonna, it’s gonna be a good feast and we’re gonna have a good time and we’re gonna raise a bunch of money for St. Jude. And yeah, we just do a meat raffle every year. A couple items in like general raffles and 50-50s and that kind of stuff. But you know, we typically land anywhere between that $15,000 and $25,000 is kind of what our loose goal is (0:38) to raise this year. And hopefully we can get there.
You can look either myself, Corey Waller or David Truax up on Facebook and we’ll repost our link to our donation site. You can just click on that. It’s super easy. Go on there, entry information, you know, whether you’re (0:55) gonna give us a dollar, $10, $100, $1,000, whatever it is, you can donate there. All your donations are tax deductible donations and it’s super easy to do that if you can’t make it. We’d love to see you there if you can make it. It’s gonna be a great time. We’re really looking forward to it. Hopefully we can hit those numbers. It’d be great.”
This year will be the 26th annual Dick Hiley St. Jude Bass Classic, which will take place May 2nd and 3rd in Wabasha, Wisconsin with 100 two-man teams participating all raising money. Find out how to donate funds to the event with this story on KDWA.com.
https://www.stjude.org/get-involved/find-an-event/dinners-and-galas/dick-hiley-bass-classic.html
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