Harrison County deputies shop with youth for rodeo gear

About 25 members of the Buddy Sports program, along with several Harrison County sheriff deputies, headed over to Academy Sports in Gulfport to get ready for the department’s annual fishing rodeo.

Each of the buddies was given a $100 gift card provided by Academy, which they were able to spend on all the fishing gear they needed for the rodeo such as rods, bait, hooks, and more.

The buddies were also able to use the money on anything non-related to fishing as well if they wanted to.

This is the second year the department got together with Academy Sports to host this shopping spree. Lt. Rob Lincoln said, “Oh I absolutely love it. This is like the best part of the year coming out here and doing this with the kids.”

MS Gulf Coast Buddy Sports Director Mike Crawford said, “The warden said we got 25 gift cards for you this year and last year we had 15, so I was super excited for a lot of our players who can come out and shop. Any time that I can give back to the people in our program or anybody in the community, I just enjoy it.”

The Fishing Rodeo will be held this Saturday at the Harrison County Sheriff’s County Farm.