NorCal Kayak Anglers

General => Pay It Forward => Topic started by: napajustin on February 27, 2024, 02:53:33 PM

Title: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: napajustin on February 27, 2024, 02:53:33 PM
Last year, our friend and kayak angling expert Kiet Pham was diagnosed with fibrotic interstitial lung disease, and has been on oxygen and not been able to work. He had to sell most of his kayaks and fishing gear and has been living on limited savings. This disease was terminal unless he received a double lung transplant. Fortunately, this week, he was accepted into the program at Stanford, immediately found a donor and has two brand new (to him) lungs! He is still in hospital, but he should be able to make a full recovery and hopefully join us fishing again the not too distant future. While his prognosis is great, he will be strapped with an astronomical amount of medical debt.
Kiet is an expert kayak angler who is everybody’s friend, and is very open and generous with his fishing advice, camp food and whatever he’s got in his cooler. He embodies our NCKA spirit of community and giving just as much as anyone I’ve ever met. Some of us older NCKA guys know him very well and will hopefully share stories about him here in the comments.
WHAT WE’RE RAFFLING AWAY:
1st Prize - 5 nights at the fabulous Ft. Bragg Pacific Redwood Hideaway. 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms on 1 acre of redwoods, just minutes from the FISHY Mendocino coast! 10/10 on VRBO with over 60 reviews. You pick ANY 5 NIGHTS that aren’t already booked. Perhaps the Rockfish or Salmon opener? Over $3,000 value. Link in comments. 6 people max overnight capacity.
2nd Prize - Guided mushroom hunting trip with expert guide Dylan Taube for up to 4 people. Either Morels at Mt. Shasta in the spring, or Chantrelle/Black Trumpets at Jackson Demonstration Forest in Mendocino this fall. $1,000 value
3rd Prize - 2 seats on Reel Obsession Sportfishing charter fishing boat drifting live bait on the bay for Halibut this spring, generously donated by Tyja Taube. $600 value.
TO ENTER:
Go donate to Kiet’s GoFundMe at the following link.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kiet-get-a-lung-transplant
Post a screenshot of your donation here or DM it to me.
For every $20 donated, you will get one raffle ticket. On Sunday, March 10, we will live stream the drawing on the Fresh and Salty Facebook page.
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: Sharkie on February 28, 2024, 03:54:40 PM
Damm! Alright Justin! This is excellent. Thank you to all who put this together. My wife saw the 5 night stay at the Redwood Hideaway, she is in. And thank you Dylan, and your Bro for the generosity.
   And to note, Kiet is whipping ass in the hospital…he is already ahead of schedule. I am guessing he will be out of the hospital in 3 weeks…then move into on site housing for an estimated 3 to 5 months. Let’s keep the fingers crossed.  Ron/Sharkie
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: LoletaEric on February 29, 2024, 10:39:50 AM
Strong move, Justin and crew.   :smt008
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: polepole on February 29, 2024, 11:01:34 AM
Thank you Josh, Ty, and Dylan for contributing packages to the raffle.

Pacific Redwood Hideaway is an awesome place, stayed there myself in Jan.  I've also fished with Ty and foraged with Dylan.  These are all primo packages.

-Allen
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: Spiffy on March 02, 2024, 12:08:18 PM
done ...PM sent .. :smt001
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: ThreemoneyJ on March 02, 2024, 02:36:33 PM
done ...PM sent .. :smt001
Same
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: fisheducator on March 02, 2024, 03:12:41 PM
Done deal, get well soon Kiet
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: Sharkie on March 03, 2024, 05:21:12 PM
Julie and I donated $100.00. All is well!
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: BigJim on March 04, 2024, 10:30:55 AM
Stoked that Kiet was able to get the transplant, and hoping he is back on his feet soon!!

I donated a little just now, and screenshot attached for raffle.

Get well soon Kiet!!!

Sincerely,

Jim
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: scottymeboy on March 06, 2024, 05:30:06 AM
Prayers for Kiet!
PM sent

Scotty
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: Sailfish on March 07, 2024, 09:12:34 AM
God speed on your recovery Kiet.
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: napajustin on March 21, 2024, 03:32:06 PM
Thank you all for helping us raise over $1200!!! I have reserved the property for April 30 to May 5 in case you want to come up for the shallow water opener. Otherwise, you can reserve a different date once you win!

In order to make more money for Kiet, we are pushing the raffle drawing back to Monday, April 8th. We hope you all understand! I'll be putting up a spreadsheet with names and entry numbers in the next couple of days.

Current participants and # of entries:
Glenn Casale-1
Sonny Nguyen - 5
Jill Deforge - 5 (yakabass)
Scott Swehla - 2 (NCKA)
Pheng Vang - 3 (yakabass)
Lloyd Chasey - 5
Mark Lockaby - 5 (NCKA)
Jim Russell - 3
Corey Ryan - 5
Julie Perry - 5
Adam Baumbach - 2
Tim Duffy - 3
John Meteyer - 5
Victor Donovan - 5 (NCKA)
Mark Stamp - 5
Sue Jb Vang - 2
Poup Smith - 3

Once again, please message me when you've entered!

Napajustin (Posting for Josh Jerge)
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: Spiffy on April 15, 2024, 02:11:11 PM
Bump ..Winners ?

Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: Mark L on April 15, 2024, 04:44:51 PM
It was live on F&S Facebook, can’t link the drawing but the winners were: Julie Perry,  Pheng Vang, and John Meteyer
Title: Re: Fundraiser / Raffle for Kiet Pham aka Bluegill
Post by: Spiffy on April 15, 2024, 04:54:29 PM
It was live on F&S Facebook, can’t link the drawing but the winners were: Julie Perry,  Pheng Vang, and John Meteyer

Thanks Mark , I don’t do FB .Just curious. All for a great cause.