Hello,

For my real job, I am a physician. More specifically, I am a neonatologist. A neonatologist is a pediatrician that specializes in caring for sick newborn infants, most of whom are premature. (Stick with me here, I will soon relate this to fly tying!)

March of Dimes (MOD) is an organization whose mission is "Saving babies, together". Their current 5 year mission is focused on preventing prematurity , and dealing with the issues associated with premature birth. MOD is best known for their efforts in developing the vaccine against Polio, however they have been very active in other areas affecting newborn care, including respiratory diseases and Spina Bifida. One can obviously see why MOD is an organization near and dear to my heart.

I am a horrible golfer, and don't like to walk, run, or in general exercise much....but I do love to fly fish and tie fishing flies. As a result, I am putting together a fund raiser for MOD that focuses on my love of fly tying. With the encouragement of our local Fayetteville, NC MOD chapter, and the cooporate support of our local (and new) fly shop TarHeel Fish & Game, we are going to have a Fly Tie-a-thon this May. All proceeds obtained from this endeavor will be given to MOD. We will be Tying Flies to Save Babies!!! How can you beat that?

So far we have a date 5/5-5/6, and a location (Tarheel Fish and Game). What I need now is individual fly tyers that would be willing to participate. This will be a true "marathon", however there will be no losers...we all (and babies) will be winners! To participate all you need is sponsorship to equal at least $50. People (or businesses) can sponsor you by the hour or in a lump sum. I have committed to try and tie for at least 24 hours and hope that if some of you are local to here, you all will consider that too. However, if you have the $50 minimum pledges, you can tie for as long or as little as you would like. All the details are not worked out yet, but this is the basic framework. I respectfully request any other thoughts you may have.

We now have posters; brochures and sponsor sheets will be available in the next week or so. Please mark these dates on your calender and consider participating as best you can. Please feel free to forward this information to any and all you think might be interested. Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or ideas. I hope this will turn out to be the First Annual Tie-a-thon!

Thanks for you consideration in this matter.

Respectfully,
Keith
Fayetteville, NC


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"Time's fun when you're having flies." Kermit the Frog