Nebraskaland

May 2025 • Nebraskaland 35 Beth Alberts and Carla Hiatt both worked with Live Well. Go Fish. when they were activities directors at retirement villages in Lincoln. Hiatt never got to go on the boat. "Our van was always full and I wanted our residents to go," she said. "So, when I retired, I said I want to volunteer." Alberts did the same. The two appreciate the smiles they see on the boat, especially from memory care patients who struggle remembering parts of their past or current day-to- day lives, but can sing along with many of the songs Rudder asks Siri to play, and the other memories the trips spark. "They don't really know what they are getting into, but then when they get here, they are like, 'I was at Johnson Lake.' Or they say, 'Oh we used to go to Minnesota.' Or 'We used to go to Canada fi shing.' It just brings back so many memories," Alberts said. "It just fi lls my heart every time I step off the boat." The Future Care homes pay a fee to the organization that helps cover the cost of the boat, insurance and other expenses. Donations from individuals and corporations pay the fee for veterans and other groups. Rudder said he believes there is enough demand and support for the program that it could expand, forming chapters in diff erent communities. "This is probably never going to be a Pheasants Forever or a Ducks Unlimited, but I think it could be," he said. Last year, Live Well. Go Fish. brought youths from the Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands on board, one of a handful of youth organizations they have served. They work with Apace, formerly Region V Services, which supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and others serving those with special needs. They take cancer patients from an Omaha hospital fi shing. And active senior groups such as Aging Partners. They fi sh primarily at Lake Wanahoo, settling there to draw from both the Lincoln and Omaha areas, not knowing what the demand would be from just one of the communities. The fi rst year was slow. "We were begging people to try us," Rudder said. Those who came back told others. Now they host two or more trips a day, most on weekdays, from May to mid-October. Sometime in May, Rudder expects the number of people they have served to top 10,000, a number he didn't foresee. The benefi ts to the seniors, veterans and others who participate extend to the volunteers. "They're helping us, too. We learn from them … empathy, care, respect. It unites us," Rudder said. "We all go fi shing, but the fi shing is just a bonus." N Kayla Massa, enrichment coordinator at Saunders Medical Center, helps resident Dennis Jeppson off the bus for an outing at Lake Wanahoo.

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