To be the next to donate, call Captain Rich
561-740-7227
When you donate your boat, you are helping our students achieve their goals. All donated boats are worked on and cleaned by our students. They inspect each boat for weaknesses and problems and repair them as needed. In doing so, students not only learn and practice vital job-training skills but their volunteer hours earn them a coveted spot on one of our fishing trips as a reward for their hard work.
The Florida Fishing Academy is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization formed in 2006 for the purpose of empowering at-risk youth with positive life skills, alternatives to destructive or antisocial behavior and a sense of responsibility for shaping the world around them. FFA uses fishing as the vessel for delivering these lessons, weaving effective life, environmental and social skills into a youth-oriented, hands-on sports angling curriculum.
Donating your boat will yield the best possible tax benefits to you, the donor. Please contact a tax attorney to fully realize the potential tax benefits. Donating your boat will help our students, and you.
The academy would like to thank FFA Board Member Steve Gordon for donating his boat, a 2004 26-foot Century, for the academy’s uses.
In Memory of Chris Johnson
My name is Holly White. I recently saw a segment on the Nightly News regarding your organization. I was moved by the work you are doing and think that it is a wonderful and worthwhile thing. I was most moved because my fiancée, Chris Johnson, would have really approved and been excited by your work. Chris was an avid angler and loved his boat, a 32’ Pacemaker, more than he loved me…it’s okay because he knew her first. With Spring arriving here in New England I can’t help but think about how excited he would be to get out the “boat” stuff and begin the annual washing, polishing, compounding and waxing that dominated our March, Aprils and Mays for the past 8 years.
On October 1st of last year, Chris passed away from a massive heart attack. He was 42 years old and our wedding was scheduled for December 8th.
I recently received a check for $200.00 from some friends of ours, that was collected in Christopher’s name. I feel as if I can’t keep this money. I want to donate it to a cause that Chris would approve of, I believe that the Florida Fishing Academy definitely fits that bill. As much as he loved his boat, the ocean, fishing and all things about the sea…he loved kids just as much. He had often been told as a teen that he would not succeed in life, and spent every day proving those who told him so wrong. He believed that hard work and tenacity and a fair amount of arrogance would always lead to success. He also truly believed that everyone should know how to properly maintain a boat, that hard work builds character in kids and teens. I miss him every day, but I don’t miss cleaning his boat.
I would like to donate this small gift to your organization, but I want to do so in his memory.
In Memory of Dr. Andy Friedman
Andy’s dad, Sidney recently donated Andy’s boat to the academy. Andy passed away from a heart attack. Andy was a great man who took disadvantaged children on his boat and gave them a new opportunity to experience life on the water. We are proud to continue his legacy on his boat.
