Derby days

Teen Challenge Thunder Bay is calling on local anglers to help support their cause.

The organization, a residential drug and alcohol addiction treatment facility that helps youth get their lives back on track, on Saturday hosts its second annual ice-fishing derby. Robby Ohuja, director for Teen Challenge Northwestern Ontario, said conditions are ripe for a fantastic day on Nolalu’s Whitefish Lake.

“We’re very excited. The weather’s going to be great. It’s $100 a hole and the holes are pre-drilled,” Ohuja said Friday, encouraging last-minute entrants to purchase tickets.

“We have lots of prizes, up to 10th place. The top three prizes are cash prizes, based on 300 tickets sold, but $5,000 for first place, $3,000 for second and $2,000 for third.”

Tickets are not sold out, but going fast, he added.

“We encourage you to get to DNR Sporting Goods or North Country Cycle and Sports, or Print Pros Plus or Hopper’s Variety and get your tickets,” Ohuja said.

The cause is near and dear to his heart, he added.

According to the Teen Challenge website, lifestyle and environment has as much to do with addiction as anything else.

“Addiction is 50 per cent due to family history and 50 per cent due to poor coping skills. Which means that everyone has a choice, but what the children of addicts lack are positive parental influences to teach proper coping mechanisms,” it says.

Statistics provided suggest someone with a family history of addiction faces twice the risk of developing a problem of their own, while someone whose parents struggled with addiction are nine times likely to develop a substance abuse problem.

“To me it’s the greatest program in the world,” said Ohuja, who went through the program himself.. “It helps men and women with life-contolling addictions and that’s really what we do. All the proceeds will go there.”

The ice-fishing derby is scheduled for a 10 a.m. start.

Tickets may also be purchased here.