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SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Hundreds of anglers gathered at Jim’s Pier and the Laguna Madre on Saturday as the annual Fishing for Hope Tournament celebrated a major milestone.
The 20th annual DHR Health Fishing for Hope Tournament drew approximately 900 anglers on more than 180 boats, reflecting the remarkable growth of an event that began in 2006 as an emergency effort to keep Hope Family Health Center’s doors open.
The tournament has become one of the Valley’s most successful charitable sporting events, generating nearly $5 million for the nonprofit clinic since the tournament’s inception. One hundred percent of the proceeds directly benefit Hope Family Health Center, a McAllen-based safety-net clinic that provides medical and behavioral healthcare services to uninsured and underinsured individuals and families.
“Twenty years is a milestone and we’re looking to make the Fishing for Hope Tournament even bigger and better over the next 20 years,” said Minerva Echols, event chairperson and director of the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance. “We first started with 50 boats and about 200 anglers and last night I registered over 180 boats with about 900 anglers so we are growing. People like fishing and giving back to the community and the Hope Family Health Center of McAllen. It’s a great ‘cause and they get to fish and have fun while they’re doing so.”
The tournament’s roots trace back to 2006, when Hope Family Health Center faced severe financial difficulties.
“When we first started the tournament in 2006, they were going to turn off the electricity, because there wasn’t enough money to pay all the bills,” Echols said. “Hope Family Health Center runs entirely on donations. The doctors donate their time and services free of charge and the only paid employees are the nurses and a small administration staff.”
The clinic itself grew from a community vision launched in the mid-1990s. Community leaders, clergy members, healthcare professionals and volunteers recognized the need for medical and counseling services for residents without access to Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance. Their efforts led to the creation of Community HOPE Projects and eventually Hope Family Health Center, which today offers primary care, preventive services, behavioral health counseling, wellness education and case management programs.
The center operates on a donation-based model and serves patients regardless of their ability to pay.
“The center serves anyone who walks in the door on a donation basis,” Echols said. “They see anyone who has no insurance or is underinsured. They also serve a lot of veterans because the local VA clinic sees so many patients that a lot of them end up at the Hope Family Health Center.”
According to Echols, the clinic treated more than 5,000 patients last year and continues to depend heavily on community support to meet increasing healthcare needs.
Dr. Noel Oliveira, director of the DHR Health Wound Care Center and a volunteer physician at Hope Family Health Center, said fundraising events like Fishing for Hope are essential to sustaining the clinic’s operations.
“It takes money to keep Hope Family Health Center going,” Oliveira said. “There are electric bills. They have to purchase things like surgical equipment and radiology equipment and all these things that come in. We’re raising money for all of that here today. It’s a very important ‘cause, but it doesn’t happen magically. It happens by the hard work of the multiple people you see here and many others who work throughout the year.”
Dr. Dan Guerra, a retired family practitioner and longtime supporter of both the clinic and tournament, emphasized the organization’s importance to patients who have few healthcare alternatives.
“Well, number one it’s for a great cause which is to support the Hope clinic, which is a lifeline for a lot of people,” Guerra said. “A lot of the subsidies that people used to depend on have been discontinued and these people are left with nothing. The clinic accepts insurance but it’s primarily for people who do not have any kind of medical insurance.”
At the weigh-in, anglers described challenging but manageable fishing conditions on the bay.
“The conditions (on the bay) were actually fair,” said Louie Solis, speaking on behalf of the Lee’s Pharmacy Fishing Team. “The wind started to pick up early in the morning and the redfish were skittish, but overall we had a good day of fishing.”
Lee’s Pharmacy has sponsored the tournament since its early years, and co-owner Jaime Solis said the event continues to embody the Valley’s spirit of community service.
“We do this because it’s real important for our community,” Solis said. “The Hope clinic is just one more initiative that DHR has instituted for helping those people with lesser means. Together as a community we bind together to help those that we can. So it’s been a great tournament for the last 20 years so I really enjoy being here.”
Martin Randall, president of Total Imaging Solutions and chairman of the Hope Family Health Center Board of Directors, credited the many sponsors and volunteers who have helped sustain the tournament’s success.
“I really want to thank DHR Health, Alonzo Cantu, Larry Safir, and Susan Turley for allowing their team of people and magnificent staff to help generate this money and to keep our clinic running and operational,” Randall said. “It’s a very worthwhile organization taking care of the community. The people who come for medical care, we take care of them and that’s our job. Fishing for Hope is a major form of income for the clinic to support the magnificent work that they do.”
As the tournament enters its third decade, organizers say its formula remains simple: bring together anglers, sponsors and healthcare advocates for a day on the water while helping ensure that thousands of Valley residents continue to have access to medical care when they need it most.