Usually on Father's Day weekend, it's a good time to spoil your dad.
But for Father's Day this year, one BGHNC foster father gave back to foster families in the Kinston area. BGHNC foster parent James Phillips of Pink Hill organized a Free Kids Fishing Day (catch & release) 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday (June 15) at Howell Woods Environmental Learning Center in Four Oaks, N.C. for BGHNC foster kids and their families. The food for a cookout during the fishing event was donated by local businesses, James said. There were 30 fishing rods available for BGHNC foster children and families who wanted to join the event.
After growing up in foster care, James said he wanted to become a foster dad. He's now adopted his first foster child and is in the adoption process for their family's second foster child. When James lived at Georgia Baptist Children's Homes, volunteer vesters from the community would take children from the home for home visits on weekends. One of his volunteer vesters took him on fishing trips, instilling a lifelong love of the outdoors. Today, he's teaching his own children how to hunt and fish.
"They took me fishing and deer hunting and that’s still in my life. I have pictures of me when I was 11 or 12 years old and won my first fishing trophy. It was 16 inches tall, and I was like 'you gotta be kidding me! I had more weight than anybody at the tournament,'" he said. "Kids love to fish and nowadays they’re in the house on video games and phones and a lot of the kids have never caught a fish."
Thank you, James, for your dedication to BGHNC youth and families! Photo courtesy of James Phillips, showing him fishing as a youth.
