Lake Park-Audubon fishing team receives $5,000 Scheels shopping spree from one of their boat captains

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The Lake Park-Audubon fishing team received an unexpected $5,000 donation from one of their boat captains after he won a Heart of the Lakes Fishing League raffle.

55-year-old Paul Hogenson, of rural Audubon, said he already knew what he was going to do with the $5,000 shopping spree, if his name was pulled as the winner.

“I was just driving to work one morning and I just thought, ‘what would I do with $5,000 to Scheels,'” said Hogenson. “And it was just one of those total mental clarity moments where it said, ‘give it to the kids.'”

Hogenson also said he knows the Heart of the Lakes fishing teams struggle to find boat captains every year, so when his nephew, a current team member, asked him, it was a no-brainer to help out with the season.

During a few outings with the team, he noticed some of the members didn’t have replacement gear for broken rods and lost tackle.

“(The donation) was definitely for a reason and come to find out, later on, the one little girl that was with us at the drawing, she didn’t even have a fishing rod, it got broken,” said Hogenson. “I find out a couple weeks later that another girl, her fishing rod got broken. Just knowing now that those kids really need stuff to fish, and they love to fish. So, it was pretty crazy.”

Hogenson said he wishes they would’ve had competitive fishing teams when he was in high school and has really enjoyed seeing lakes area students take a resounding interest in the competitive outdoors.

He also had a message to anyone looking to make a real difference in someone else’s life.

“I would just hope that if there is somebody out there, who is in a similar situation, uncles, aunts, whatever, if you see someone who is struggling, help them,” said Hogenson.

The Lake Park-Audubon fishing team’s next competition will be on Detroit Lake this Thursday, June 29.