Hunt With Heart fulfills dreams of children with heart problems

When most people think about terminally ill children having their wishes fulfilled, they think about the Make A Wish Foundation and trips to Disneyland.

Here in Texas, those wishes turn to guns and hunting.

“Make A Wish won’t do hunts,” noted Toby Kroeger, founder of Hunt With Heart, a nonprofit organization he started with his wife to help pediatric heart patients fulfill their dreams of hunting big game.

Although he is a believer in the Make A Wish mission, he has discovered an unmet need of helping older children with life-altering health issues fulfill their desire to go hunting.

The idea for Hunt With Heart began unexpectedly several years ago when Kroeger’s wife Crystal asked him to help out at a camp sponsored by her employer, Texas Children’s Hospital. Crystal works with cardiac patients at the hospital and Toby is a lieutenant with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

Each year the hospital and the It’s My Heart Foundation hold a weekend camp for heart patients between the ages of 8 and 12 called Camp Pump It Up. The camp was in need of male volunteers and when Crystal asked, Toby didn’t have the heart to say no.

That first year Toby was a counselor in a cabin with a bunch of boys, including a special youngster named Nick. The two of them formed a special bond.

“Each year after that the hospital made sure they put him in my cabin,” Toby said.

Then came that fateful day in 2011 when Toby was visiting Nick in the hospital after a surgery. Nick asked him what he was going to do that weekend and Toby told him he was going hunting.

“When I said it was hunting season, the inside of the room got quiet and still,” he said.

Nick’s mother explained that it was his lifelong dream to go hunting. He played hunting video games and talked about it a lot. Living with a life-threatening heart condition, however, made the idea of going on a hunt little more than a dream.

The Kroegers felt the need to make Nick’s dream come true. Crystal began searching for a place for Nick to go hunting and made a cold call to Beaver Creek Ranch, located northwest of Bryan/College Station. When Crystal explained what they wanted to owners Jim and JoAnne Elzner, “they were equally as excited about the opportunity to introduce Nick to hunting as we were.”

A month later the arrangements were made and Nick was able to get his trophy. After that experience the Kroegers knew they couldn’t stop, so they incorporated Hunt With Heart as a nonprofit organization and set up a board of directors.

With coordination between Texas Children’s Hospital and Camp Beaver Creek, Hunt With Heart held its first camp with six children and their parents, mostly fathers. Initially the camp was for children 13-18 with serious heart disease, but it was later expanded to include children with any life-threatening or life-altering health issues.

The first outing was life-changing for everyone involved, especially the Kroegers.

“What can we do to make it more than a one-weekend experience?” Toby asked Crystal.

They decided to make the participants lifetime members in the organization. They hold annual Christmas parties, clay shoots and other activities. Beyond that, they discovered that the camps bonded the families in special ways.

“The dads are getting to be there to do something special with their kids and they’re getting to meet other dads in the same boat,” Toby said.

Outside of camp, they have become a huge support network and are often there for the children when they wind up back in the hospital.

“This isn’t just an organization they’re joining; it’s a family,” Toby said. “When they become part of our organization they become part of our family.”

Toby said the count is up to 33 camper families in their larger family, but it extends beyond that. Other hunters volunteer as guides and doctors at Children’s have extended their services, making them vital members of the organization. Other businesses and organizations have become members of the extended family, including John Guidry, a Sealy taxidermist.

The Kroegers met Guidry three years ago at the Texas Trophy Hunters Extravaganza at what was then Reliant (now NRG) Center in Houston.

“They needed a taxidermist to help with some of their stuff,” Guidry said.

The more he learned about the organization, the more his heart went out to the kids. He now does all of their mounts, primarily skull mounts.

“I don’t do it to receive anything back for it. It’s a 100 percent donation on my part,” he said.

His only request is to be present when the trophies are presented to the young hunters. He usually presents the mounts to the children at the Christmas party.

“It was an eye-opening experience for me because my family has never had to deal with this,” he said.

More recently, Hunt with Heart has partnered with Bellville Meat Market for the processing of the meat. Toby said they do it at a significantly reduced cost. Quite often a portion of the meet is donated by Hunt With Heart to other organizations.

Another supporter is GameGuard Outdoors, which provides camo clothing and gear to the hunters.

Toby said everywhere he turns he finds more people and businesses wanting to help out. Because of that generosity, the camp is provided at no cost to the hunters and their families.

The camping experience is much more than just a hunt. Before the campers fire their first shot, they are taught gun safety and test on a range with small caliber rifles, working up to the ones they will use on the hunt. Other activities include archery, fishing and taking ATV tours of the ranch.

When they hunt, they usually go after exotics stocked on the ranch, usually goats and deer, though some water buffalos have been taken. The hunts are held twice a year and other ranches are becoming involved. One of these is the Emerald T Ranch near Columbus.

At two camps, there were children on the national heart transplant list who could not be more than an hour away from the hospital. In order for them to be able to hunt and not be removed from the list, Burt’s Condstruction provided a helicopter for the weekend.

Though all of the hunts and all of the children are special to the Kroegers and their supporters, two youngsters on their hunt last spring really stand out. Rylan, 11, and 15-year-old Macy were awaiting hearts. Both enjoyed the weekend and Rylan had an exceptionally fun time hunting for Easter eggs while wearing bunny ears.

A week after the hunt, he wore the ears into surgery to receive his new heart. While he was recovering at Texas Children’s, Macy received hers and they recovered together.

Hunt With Heart has done more than just help children fulfill dreams of big game hunts. The foundation they started has helped send one member to college, met financial needs for some of the families, provided temporary housing assistance for a family from San Antonio needing to be near the hospital, helped provide Christmas gifts, and even helped cover some of the funeral costs for children who lost their battle with heart disease.

While Toby said the hunts mean everything to the young hunters, he can’t put a price on what it does for the families. He said the parent-child bonding that takes place is incredible, but more than that, the connection of families with similar interests and issues and the support network they have formed is a benefit he could never foresee and now can never do without.

“When they join our organization, they join our family,” he said.

For more information: www.huntwithheart.org

Skydiving company soars in Sealy

At more than 2 ½ miles above ground, the view is remarkably similar to what one sees on Google Maps.
Once one exits an airplane at that altitude, the ground zooms in seemingly as fast as a computer mouse can scroll in for a close-up. Rather than the silent glide on a computer monitor and the delayed focus, the world comes into rapid focus as the air whips noisily by at 120 miles an hour. A drogue chute eventually slows the speed to 60 mph, which is scantly noticeable in the thin, cold air.
After falling from 14,000 feet to 6,000 feet in the span a minute, a cord is pulled, releasing a parachute and instantly enveloping its occupants in blissful tranquility for a gentle six-minute descent to terra firma.
That scene plays itself out dozens of times a day just southeast of Sealy at the Gloster Aerodome, a small grass airstrip where Westside Skydivers Houston is based. One of two skydiving companies serving the Houston area, Westside has been steadily growing in the last 17 months it has been open for business here.
“It’s nothing like you see in the movies,” manager Austin Ely said while describing the skydiving experience.
Everyone experiences a tandem jump their first time, meaning they are strapped to an instructor. Anthony “Pinky” Gelleny, 24, is a certified tandem jump instructor for Westside.
“I’ve wanted to jump since I was 16,” he said.
On his 18^th birthday – the minimum legal age to jump – his friends found excuses to bail out on him, but he forged ahead.
“When I got the first time out of the way, I got addicted,” he said.
He is now the veteran of more than 1,500 jumps, which is a small number in the industry. Westside owner Joe Johnson has leaped out of a perfectly good airplane more than 12,000 times.
“In all honesty, it’s incredibly safe,” Gelleny said.
Safety is the top priority at Westside. The second is to have fun – lots of fun. In as much time as the instructors spend going over safety and procedures, they put an equal effort into making the event memorable with their enthusiasm and humor. Much of it is captured on video for those customers who desire the memento of the event.
Tandem jumps account for most of the business. Johnson said they did 4,400 tandem jumps their first year in Sealy. He hopes to bring that number of to 15,000. He said many try skydiving once just to say they did it. Others make it hobby.
“For 18-year-olds, it’s a rite of passage,” Johnson said. “For the 50- to 70-year-olds, it’s their bucket list. For the 25- to 40-year-olds, it’s something to do on a weekend.”
He said while most instructors are male, the majority of customers – about 60 percent – are female.
“Women trust people more easily than men do,” he said.
Ely said it is not uncommon for someone to use skydiving as a means to a wedding proposal. Westside even keeps a “will you marry me” banner on hand for such occasions.
“The girl jumps last so she can see the sign in the air around 1,000 feet,” he said.
There are many reasons people take the risk and the plunge. Chelsia Collins of Houston recently celebrated her 30^th birthday by taking a dive with her friend, Nicole Hayward.
“It was on my bucket list and it’s my birthday,” she said when asked why she took the tandem jump.
She said she wished she had done it earlier in life.
“It was a rush and scary too,” she said. “One we were in the air it was not scary anymore. It’s actually serene, peaceful.”
“The initial jump was scary,” Hayward said. “The parachute thing was the best part.”
Javier Ortiz, 38, of Odessa recently made his 18^th jump and is on his way to earning his A class license.
“I love it; you feel so free,” he said.
Ely said the build-up to the big moment adds to the adventure.
“That’s what it’s all about, the anticipation,” he said.
Once a person is in the air, they are committed to the moment.
“Once you jump there is no getting back into the airplane,” he said. “You just as well enjoy the ride.”
Those who get hooked on the adrenaline rush can take steps to earn a license and increase their skills and thrills. There are four classes of skydiving licenses – A, B, C and D. An A license requires a minimum of 25 jumps and is a certification to jump at any facility, called a drop zone, in the country. A D license is awarded to instructors.
Those interested in doing solo jumps and getting an A license must first do two tandem jumps and take a ground course. It’s all part of the Accelerated Freefall Program offered at Westside Skydivers.
“The first jump just gets your knees in the breeze,” Ely said.
With each jump, more skills are learned. The more advanced the skydiver, the wider variety of aircraft they can jump from and the more they can do in the air. Students can learn to use wing suits and sky boards, do formation dives and more.
Ely said the company currently has a Cessna Caravan that can carry 14 people and two Cessna 182s that carry four people each. The runway at the airport was recently extended and Westside Skydivers is constructing a new hangar on the west end of the main strip. It should be open in mid-summer.
In addition to Westside Skydivers Houston, Johnson owns Westside Skydivers Minneapolis in Minnesota. The Minnesota operation started four years ago and the Sealy site opened in 2012. Johnson said the Houston market was ripe for a new skydiving company.
He said the Minneapolis market of 3.5 million people is served by four companies. The Houston market of more than 6 million was served by two – one of which went out of business last year in Eagle Lake.
“Houston has an independently strong economy compared to the rest of the country,” Johnson said.
Johnson, 42, used to work for Qwest Communications, but found the lure of the skies too much to resist.
“I just quit one day and never looked back,” he said.
He holds the highest ratings and can jump into ballparks and stadiums and often does so carrying the American or Texas flags. He has jumped in 10 different countries and had the distinction of being the first civilian to jump into Rice Stadium.
“The sport’s been good to me,” he said.
Places where people can parachute are referred to in the industry as drop zones. Sealy has one and the other is in Rosharon for Skydive Spaceland. There are only about 10 currently operating in Texas according to the U.S. Parachute Association.
Learning to skydive can be expensive. The first tandem jump is about $200. The price can drop with successive jumps, depending on options taken by the student. Licensed skydivers with their own equipment can take a jump for about $20 to $25.
To learn more, visit www.westsideskydivers.com or call 888-758-JUMP.

Nature photography

Real Cowboys: Old traditions, modern ways

Joe Southern
Amarillo Globe-News
Lane Oles, 8, skewered some freshly extracted calf fries and roasted them over the fire that heated the brand used to mark the calf they came from.
The pre-lunch delicacy was his reward for helping the adults round up calves on Bill Weems' ranch, brand and medicate them and castrate the bulls.
"Those calf fries are good," he said after taking a bite. "I helped with the calf fries and then I ate some."
Lane and his 10-year-old brother, Dee, are following in their father's footsteps, prints made by a pair of cowboy boots with the clink of spurs.
The sons of Jim Oles, dressed in brown vests, boots, spurs and straw cowboy hats, are more than wannabe cowboys. They're the real deal, the next generation of modern-day cowboys, keeping alive the Old West traditions that made the Texas Panhandle what it is today.
The tools have changed, but the methods of raising cattle have remained consistent since the early days of ranching and cattle drives of the mid- to late-1800s. The whole process is a family affair with neighbors helping neighbors.
"There's less stress on us and the cattle when there's plenty of help and people know what to do. We all help each other," Oles said.
Recently, a caravan of pickups and horse trailers pulled up to one of Weems' plots of land, parked by an empty pen and began unloading horses while the cattle migrated to the far end of the pasture. A group of cowboys, cowgirls and youngsters - all friends and neighbors - rode out on horseback to bring the herd into the pen.
With the gate shut, the cows were separated from the calves and lined in a chute where they were sprayed with a wormer. The attention then turned to the 30 or so calves huddled at one end of the main pen. Two branding irons warmed up on a portable propane heater while Rick Jones rode into the pen.
With a toss of his lasso into the herd, Jones backed away with a calf roped by the back legs. A team of cowboys then sprang into action. Though they rotated duties, a typical scene had Fred Irby taking the calf down and pinning it to the ground by the neck with his knee while getting a firm grip on one of its front legs.
Joe Watkins grabbed a hind leg and pushed the other back with his foot so the animal was spread-eagle and couldn't move. J.R. Blanchard stuck a tube into the calf's mouth and squirt a worming medicine into it.
Cooper Christophersen, 9, injected the calf with a vaccination for black leg while Ron Dyer applied the brand. With each branding, a cloud of smoke rose with the stench of burning hair and seared flesh, a far cry from the mouth-watering smell of sizzling steaks that will one day be carved out of the young animal.
If the calf were a bull, Weems would take a knife and castrate it while an Oles would powder the wound with a clotting agent. Also helping out were Scott Waddell, Bob Miller, Scott Myers, Wes Sharp, 10-year-old Logan Johnson and 14-year-old Kelsee Watkins, among other children and wives.
The whole process took seconds and within 30 minutes the black Angus calves were returned to their mothers and released back to pasture.
"I've done it ever since I was a kid," said Miller, a pastor by day. "I get out as often as I can."
Most everyone in the crew has a day job. Watkins, 53, is a full-time rancher.
"I worked in town for a while but I've always had some cows," he said.
On this day, three generations of the Watkins family worked together. Sharp is his father-in-law and Kelsee his daughter. He said he loves what he does and that he doesn't do it for the money.
"I'm just doing what I like to do and I'm pretty fortunate to be able to do it," he said.
After chowing down on some fresh barbecue brisket, the crew loaded up and headed off to the next pasture.
"A bunch of good people get together and do a good job and nobody complains about the job they're doing," Watkins said.

The Dairy Queen horses

Joe Southern
joe.southern@amarillo.com
There once was a time when horses in downtown Amarillo were commonplace. But this is 2007, and horses have long since been replaced by automobiles.
Any horses seen in the city are either in a parade or painted works of art. Yet, on occasion, a group of horses can been seen standing patiently in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen as traffic whizzes by on Interstate 40 and Washington Street. Sometimes they're at the McDonald's on Soncy Road. Wherever they are, they're a curiosity in this old cow town.
On a recent Saturday, the riders sat in the Dairy Queen, eating lunch and cooling off with ice cream while people outside stopped to pet the hobbled horses and take their pictures. They belong to G.A. Gossett, a retired United Parcel Service driver. The riders are children from all walks of life in and around Amarillo.
"This is a lot of fun for me to see the kids do this," Gossett said over a cup of coffee in a booth at the Dairy Queen.
As much as he and the children enjoy it, there are other reasons Gossett takes the youngsters on free horse rides.
"If we can't use what we've got to tell someone about Jesus Christ, what good is it?" he said.
He also wants to teach the next generation the skills and love of riding horses.
"When my generation dies off, nobody will have any need for horses," he said. "People teach kids how to ride but they charge $30 or $40 an hour. The only people who will ride will be the rich kids."
Rich children are certainly welcome to come ride. But most of the children Gossett gets come from homes where riding lessons are not affordable.
"Most of these kids wouldn't get to do nothin' if he didn't have this deal for them," said Shaver Clark, a friend who helps Gossett with the program.
Gossett lets youngsters ride whenever it doesn't interfere with school. Riders meet at his place on the north side of town on Saturdays at 9 a.m. or Sundays at 1 p.m. They also ride on days when school is out and more frequently during the summer.
When the riders arrive, they're responsible for getting out the tack and saddling the horses. Once they're ready, they gather under a tree near the road. There, they are led through a devotional and a prayer. Quite often a minister from Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church will say a few words. Sometimes Gossett will do it. On this particular Saturday, the Rev. Landrum Medlock talked to the young riders about finding God in creation.
"As you look around and see things, you can see God in that," he said. After his short devotional and a closing prayer, the riders headed off on their cross-town trek. They crossed under U.S. Highway 287 at Central Avenue and worked their way south along the west side of Thompson Park. They then navigated their way down side roads and alleys until they reached South Crockett Street. They rode down Crockett and under Interstate 40. From there they took the I-40 Frontage Road back east to Washington Street and the Dairy Queen.
After dismounting, they hobbled the horses by tying their front legs together and then headed inside to eat.
"We get pretty busy when they come bring them horses. We get quite a bit of business off of them," manager Billie Balzer said.
Balzer said she hears a few complaints from people who think hobbling the horses is cruel. But she says she more often hears from people who want to know about the next trek.
"We really enjoy having them," she said.
During their lunch break, several of the youngsters talked about what the riding program meant to them. Cheri Moore was able to easily look past the cut on her chin she suffered when she was bucked off her steed earlier in the ride.
"I think its really good. I'm so glad to get to ride and stuff," said Cheri, 13. "It's really good for all the kids."
Other youngsters generally felt the ride taught them how to be responsible for animals.
"We have to be kind to the animals and take care of them," added Lyndsey Phipps, 17.
Kyle Phipps, 16, has been riding for more than four years.
"When I started riding I wanted to do better and stuff," he said. "It's motivation to keep my grades up. If I don't keep my grades up I don't get to ride."
"It's fun and it's a really good experience being with the horses and the kids," added 13-year-old Erica Brown. "I wanted to have a horse before, but I didn't know much about them."
After eating and then posing for pictures, the children mounted up and headed back to the farm. When they returned, they stowed the tack, watered the horses and returned them to their pens.
Gossett said making children do the work teaches them proper care for horses.
"If the industry doesn't start teaching kids to ride horses that's going to be the end of it," he said. "These kids are going to be the next buyers."  

Going for a ride 

G.A. Gossett offers free horse rides for children old enough and mature enough to properly handle the animals. Most are in their teens. He does expect the riders to show proper care and respect for the horses and their fellow riders. Those who do not follow the rules are not allowed back. Each ride begins with a Bible lesson and prayer. The rides, depending on the destination, take about five to six hours to complete. For more information, call Gossett at (806) 570-1309.

Christians need to step out

Joe Southern
joe.southern@amarillo.com
Pastor Rick Warren's message Monday to the more than 2,000 people gathered at the Amarillo Civic Center was a simple one.
"If you want God's blessing in your life, you must care about what God cares about most," he told the crowd assembled in Amarillo for the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
In an impassioned, hour-long talk, Warren implored BGCT members to engage in his PEACE Plan, a missions-oriented strategy to bring people out of church pews and into action. He hoped doing so would help tackle what he called the "five Goliaths" facing the world today - spiritual emptiness, self-centered leadership, poverty, pandemic disease and illiteracy.
"These five problems are so big it's depressing," he said.
The PEACE Plan is acronym for ideals he hopes Christians would embrace - to Promote reconciliation, Equip servant leaders, Assist the poor, Care for the sick and Educate the next generation.
Warren said he prioritized these problems by looking at conditions through his travels around the world. He found the answers in the Bible, which he claims is the only book to outsell his own "A Purpose-Driven Life" in American history.
Jesus tackled those five Goliaths throughout his ministry, Warren said.
"The five things Jesus did are the antidote to the five biggest problems," he said.
Speaking with a hoarse voice damaged by smoke from the Southern California fires, Warren seemed to light a fire at the conference, where missions were the theme. He said most churches have the model of missions backwards. Churches study an area and train missionaries before sending them out. Warren said the victory is in the harvest and recommended that people go on missions first, then pray and learn.
"We need to release the latent, pent-up power that's sitting in our pews today," he said.
He urged people to get out of their comfortable pews and get involved in the world around them.
"Every member is a minister and every member is a missionary," he said.

And a woman shall lead them

Joe Southern
joe.southern@amarillo.com
Joy Fenner of Garland was elected Monday as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, becoming the first woman to lead the convention that represents 5,600 congregations and 2.3 million people.
Fenner, 72, was elected over David Lowrie, 47, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon. The vote, held at the Amarillo Civic Center, was 900 to 840. Her 60-vote victory was closer than many had predicted and puts her in a position to unite Texas Baptists who showed signs Monday of being split over the direction of leadership.
In a news conference after the vote was taken, Fenner and Lowrie spoke about the importance of communication and the need to unite rather than divide.
"I don't think it's a very strong division at all," said Fenner, who is a lay leader from Gaston Oaks Baptist Church in Dallas.
Lowrie said his candidacy was more about moving the leadership back to the political center and having all voices heard than it was to take the convention in another direction. His concern was primarily for the large number of Southern Baptists in the BGCT and the low representation they have in leadership positions.
"I'm going to support her to the best of my ability," said Lowrie, who leads a Southern Baptist congregation.
He joked that they both actually won, because "I got my point across and I don't have to serve as president."
Fenner said she is open to working with Lowrie and other new leaders during her one-year term.
"For sure he will be involved. He's a gifted leader and we need his vision and his capabilities," she said.
BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade, who is retiring in three months, said he thinks the convention will come away from the two-day annual meeting a lot stronger than it was.
"There were a lot of conversations about what would happen here today," he said. "I am very pleased to see the spirit of unity that was going on. David's comments are deeply appreciated. ... Most of our churches give through the BGCT to support the missions programs of the Southern Baptists."
As for the historic nature of the vote, Fenner said it was always a secondary issue for her.
"It's gratifying because women have been so involved in Baptist work," she said. "I hope it would honor some of our women who have leadership abilities."
Fenner is the executive director emeritus for the Woman's Missionary Union of Texas. Between sessions, several people commented about the vote.
"We would have voted for Joy Fenner because of her background in missions," said J.W. Tomes of Amarillo, who was not a voting member. "She would have been very much our choice. She's done a lot of good work in the state of Texas."
"I'm very pleased, happy," said Sue Andrews of Hereford. "I didn't get to vote, but that's who I would have voted for."
"I think it's great myself. I think she'll do the job that she's supposed to do. She's got a lot of experience as a leader," said Kelsie Nowell of Vernon.
Shirley Whitley of El Paso said she was also pleased with the outcome.
"I think she has a great background and I trust her to bring us together like we need to be," she said.