MINNEAPOLIS – In a continuing effort to support the men and women who risk their lives to maintain freedom in the United States, Wal-Mart and FLW Outdoors have donated $200 Wal-Mart gift cards to troops who were injured in the Middle East and are now recuperating at the Bethesda Navel Medical Center in Maryland and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. FLW Outdoors has also donated copies of the June issue of FLW Outdoors Magazine that will be sent to troops currently serving overseas.
The Wal-Mart gift cards and magazines will reach troops through the Armed Forces Foundation, a nonprofit charity established in May 2002 to promote the morale, welfare and quality of life of the United States armed forces community.
“The Wal-Mart gift cards and FLW Outdoors magazines really mean a lot to the troops,” said James Gorab, executive director of the Armed Forces Foundation. “They appreciate just knowing that after they have been wounded in combat people care. It really makes a difference to these troops.”
“We are so grateful to the men and women who serve in the armed forces,” said Irwin Jacobs, chairman of FLW Outdoors. “The Wal-Mart gift cards and FLW Outdoors magazines are a small way we can say `thank you’ to the troops who so selflessly and admirably serve our country.”
To keep troops on the pulse of tournament fishing while they serve, FLW Outdoors will also launch FLW Live™ – a new Web-based technology that delivers real-time updates and play-by-play audio coverage from tournament weigh-ins. The technology allows anyone with Internet access anywhere in the world, including the men and women serving our country overseas, to view and hear results from FLW Outdoors tournaments the moment an angler weighs in fish.
Many troops in the U.S. military, who fearlessly protect America’s freedom overseas, are bass-fishing enthusiasts who have put their passion on hold while they faithfully carry out their duties. FLW Live now makes it possible for those serving to watch results as they happen by simply logging onto FLWOutdoors.com on the World Wide Web.
“FLW Live is an excellent opportunity for everyone involved, and we are very proud to be able to offer our men and women who are dedicated to protecting our country a little piece of home while they sacrifice their time and energy ensuring our freedom,” Jacobs said.
FLW Live will be available for the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship Sept. 10-13 on the James River in Richmond, Va. In the coming months, FLW Live will also be integrated into other FLW Outdoors tournament trails, including select EverStart Series and Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour.
The Armed Forces Foundation (www.ArmedForcesFoundation.org) was established in 2002 by Gorab, a former Navy engineer, to promote the morale, welfare and quality of life of the military community with a special emphasis on military families. The Armed Forces Foundation organizes a variety of activities and programs to provide recreation and educational services for this community, including Youth Fishing Days for military-dependent children. Two-hundred and fifty members of Congress are honorary board members of the Armed Forces Foundation. The next event for the Foundation, scheduled June 28, is a Youth Fishing Day for 300-plus children and their families based at Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.