The Bridge Fishing Outreach

Our Mission

To share the gospel message of Jesus Christ by mentoring youth in our community through relationships built while spending time outdoors learning how to fish.

Our Vision

A future in which all youth in our community hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ and can experience love, encouragement, and renewed hope for their future through mentorship in our outreach fishing programs.

Our Challenge

In South Carolina, approximately 3425 youth live in foster care and other institutional settings. They make the best of a confusing world after suffering neglect, trauma, and the breakdown of their family, leaving them with a range of emotional and social challenges. Even those who don’t fall into the foster system now grow up in a culture that seems designed to undermine the innocence and wonder of childhood. You might say that most of the youth in our nation is “at risk.” Many psychologists warn of the risks posed to children who endure the depersonalizing world of screens and social media and call for increasing engagement in real friendships and time playing in real-life, outdoor settings.

Our Solution

Our events are designed to create moments where youth can spend time outdoors fishing, away from screens and devices.

These fishing outings help cultivate relationships and build trust. They create a platform for us to share our testimony and the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Our programs also provide the opportunity to teach important life skills through a loving, caring mentorship. In mentoring youth, we aim to reach, teach, love, equip, challenge, and develop the future leaders of our faith, families, and community.

For The Bridge Fishing Outreach, fishing provides time outdoors, an escape or break from the challenges we all face daily. It is an opportunity to meet new friends and strengthen existing relationships. It creates impactful moments and lifelong memories. It provides intentional, face-to-face interaction that is lacking in our society.

It helps develop important life skills including; Goal Setting - Commitment - Perseverance - Patience - Positive Mental Attitude - Focus - Determination - Critical Thinking - Problem-Solving - Self-Confidence - Attention To Detail and more.

It provides an opportunity to create a safe place to enjoy being a kid and experience the carefree thrills of childhood for those who may not have a dad, uncle, grandfather, or neighbor who can take them fishing.

Our Programs

-Fishing For Their Future-

Through our Fishing For Their Future program, we mentor youth living in shelters, group homes, foster care, church youth groups, and students from the public school system. We teach kids how to fish and important life skills through a loving, caring mentorship.

-Youth Angler Academy-

Through our Youth Angler Academy we offer opportunities for students of any skill level, from the beginner to the advanced, as well as for the competitive middle and high school angler. We provide instructional clinics, hands-on workshops, and summer camps, as well as individual lessons that include on-the-water angler development.

Our Achievements

  • The Bridge Fishing Outreach was established in 2018 to share Jesus and serve the community through sport of fishing

  • Our instructor was certified by the South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources as a Fishing Instructor – February 2018

  • Received 501 c3 non-profit designation – July 2018.

  • Held our 1st South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Family Fishing Clinic – September 2018

  • Held our 1st Fishing for Their Future fundraiser – December 2018

  • Partnered with Miracle Hill Ministries to host four events for their children’s ministry – January 2019

  • Partnered with Bassmaster and Visit Anderson SC for the Bassmaster event on Lake Hartwell -April 2019

  • Hosted Fishing For Their Future fishing clinic for hearing impaired families - May 2019

  • Created the Fishing For Their Future fishing club to share the message of Jesus Christ through fishing clubs in local middle and high schools - June 2021

  • Launched www.bridgefishingoutreach.org

    – July 2021

  • Partnered with the Greenville County School District to launch the initial chapter of our afterschool fishing club program at Rudolph Gordon School. - August 2021

  • Created partnership with Trail Life USA to offer fishing curriculum to this national organization with over 36,000 members in all 50 states. November 2021

  • Partnered with Bassmaster for the Bassmaster Classic, the Super Bowl of bass fishing, with over 150,000 visitors in attendance over the three day event. - March 2022

  • Partnered with Bass Pro Shops and Greenville County Recreation to transport over 400 fish to a community lake in efforts to improve the opportunities for youth in our area to catch fish - June 2023

  • Partnered with Heidelberg Materials, a global business, to host Community Cast for a group of youth from a local boys home and foster care community. Heidelberg sponsored the event and provided lunch, a fishing rod and reel, and a t-shirt for each participant - June 2023

  • Recipient of over 300 rods and reels donated by Bass Pro Shops to help support our programs and provide rods and reels for the participants. - June 2023

  • Donated fishing equipment through our Fishing Fishing Their Future program to a group of youth in McCormick County in efforts to help them start a high school fishing club at their school. We also took them fishing out on Clarks Hill Reservoir to help them gain experience on the water. Since that event we have partnered with a local bass fishing club that has offered to get these youth back out on the water to practice in a competitive format. - July 2023

  • Launched our Youth Anglers Academy program to offer clinics, workshops, camps and private lessons to youth anglers of any skill level that interested in learning how to fish or developing more advanced skills - August 2023

  • Partnered with the Greenville Baptist Association, FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), Child Evangelism Fellowship, and local churches to create the HUB. A group of ministries focused on taking the gospel message of Jesus Christ into elementary, middle, and high schools. - August 2024

  • Hosting our first Christian youth camp, First Light Fishing Camp to share the message of Jesus Christ and to learn and practice fishing skills for church youth groups and other outdoor youth organizations - Spring 2025