DHS senior hosts fishing tournament to raise money for cancer research, classmate’s medical care
When Destrehan High School senior D.J. Rebstock thinks about giving back to his community, he thinks of his grandmother.
His grandmother, Christina Sternberger Curtis, was a local realtor at Latter and Blum Realtors until she passed away six years ago at the age of 53 after a battle against breast cancer.
So when he had to design a senior project to benefit the community and relate to his life, he decided to establish a fishing tournament in his grandmother’s honor with the proceeds going to cancer research.
“I love to fish, that’s what I do – it’s my thing,” Rebstock said. “So I figured I would do something that I love to do…and also raise awareness to a cause that took someone very special from me.”
The first Christina Sternberger Curtis Memorial Bass Tournament will be held on Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Bonnet Carre Spillway.
Check-in for adults is from 5-6 a.m. and kids can check in from 7-9 a.m. The main category will be for the heaviest five-bass string with each fish being over 12 inches. There are two optional categories: Big Bass, which will award a prize to the largest single fish caught, and No Bass, which will award a prize by drawing to those who do not catch anything or who choose not to fish.
“The No Bass category is a way to give people who aren’t lucky that day a chance win something and to enjoy the tournament,” Rebstock said.
The children’s category is for kids ages 14 and younger and will award prizes for the three biggest individual fish caught by bank fishing anywhere in the spillway.
While some of the proceeds will go to cancer research as originally intended, much of it will now go directly to a community member, Madison Tully.
Tully, 16, was a Spanish classmate of Rebstock’s and is one of only 12 people worldwide to be diagnosed with both lupus and sickle cell anemia.
“I figured that her family must have extensive bills, so we’re still donating to the Cancer Society, but most of the money will be going towards her and her family,” Rebstock said.
So far, Rebstock said that he has enough sponsors to effectively run the tournament on Saturday. While he has already printed up sponsor signs for the event, he said anyone who still wants to sponsor can bring their own sign to the spillway.
On the day of the tournament, entry costs $60 for a two-person team, an additional $10 for the Big Bass category and an additional $10 for the No Bass category. Payout will be 50 percent of the proceeds collected.
“The purpose of the project is to create something in real life and have it be donated. It has to go back towards the community somehow,” Rebstock said. “The point is to accomplish something in a real-world situation and have it relate to your life.”
He said that while his family has helped him get stuff done during the school week, he is trying to do as much as he can by himself.
“My mom and dad are helping me a bunch – they help with everything I can’t do while I’m at school and football practice,” he said. “I’m also trying to get volunteers from the school to come out and help runs booths at the tournament.”
For more information about the tournament, contact Rebstock at (985)652-1815 or e-mail donald_reb@yahoo.com.
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