May 2025 • Nebraskaland 33
grandson. Another grew up fi shing with his brother and
wanted to spend one more day on the water, enjoying nature,
sipping on a cold beer. Some Dreamweaver participants
arrive at Lake Wanahoo in an ambulance. Others, or their
family and friends, arrive in limousines.
Covid Shift
Coronavirus shut Live Well. Go Fish. down for a time.
When it resumed operations, there were concerns about
the lingering health risks to seniors, which had made up 90
percent of the clientele. So Rudder and the board reached out
to other organizations serving special needs patients, which
led to a relationship with the Nebraska Commission for the
Blind and Visually Impaired. That group in 2023 set the
record for the most fi sh caught in an outing: 128, including
81 by one boat.
Jon Herron, blind since 2021, was on that trip. The 62-year-
old retired U.S. Air Force offi cer remembers spending summer
days catching sunfi sh from a creek near his home, but hadn't
since. "I would say it can be harder without vision, but what
you want to do is to use your sense of touch. So when one
sense goes away, the other senses kick in," he said. "So my
hearing is better now, my sense of smell is better now, my
sense of touch is better now."
"In order to read the braille and stuff , you really do have
to have sensitive fi ngers," said Makenzie Gray, 23, who lost
her eyesight when she was 6 months old. "My fi ngers are
Volunteer Robin Taylor and Dennis Jeppson, a resident at
Saunders Medical Center, are all smiles after Jeppson landed
a small wiper.
The 26-foot Live Well. Go Fish. pontoon boat can hold 14 people, but never carries more than 13 on its outings. It has room for
three wheelchairs, and once hosted a hospice patient in a hospital bed.
