May 6, 2009 Chris McGee and the folks with the Louisiana C.A.S.T.
for Kids Foundation are seeking a little help for an activity this Sunday on Cross Lake out of the SPAR Launch. Yea. We know it’s Mother’s Day weekend. But somehow, we don’t think there are many mothers who wouldn’t be willing to give up their sons or husbands for a couple of hours for this worthy cause. Not if their hearts are in the right place. McGee participated in the event last year for the first time and came away different for the experience. “I was paired with a little girl and her mother from South America, who was at the Shriner’s Hospital getting treatment for a spinal injury,” McGee said. “She only spoke about four words of English and I knew just a little broken Spanish, so we had very little communication during the day. “The little girl caught a couple of small fish and her mother caught just one. But when we got back to the shore, the girl hugged me and kissed me. That was a moment that changed me forever.” That’s why McGee is determined to conduct the CAST event in Shreveport this weekend despite running into numerous obstacles. About half of his original volunteers dropped out when they discovered it was Mother’s Day weekend.
Then he learned that high water on the Red River is forcing the closure of public ramps and could make navigating the river unsafe for some less experienced boat operators. That’s why the CAST event was moved to Cross Lake.