 Hello and welcome to this special and inspirational episode of quality of life titled, Special Dreams. Joining us today in exploring that title is Dorothy and Wyatt McElroy. Excuse me. Hi, David. How are you? I am fine. How about yourself? We're good. Thank you. Wyatt, how are you today? I'm doing good. Excellent. We're having the show with you, Special Dreams, because you've had an occurrence in your life which has inspired a special dream to come true. Could you tell us how, what motivated or started that special dream and the journey you've gone down? It actually all started with Wyatt. Wyatt can pick up the story in a minute. We lost his dad, my husband, back in 2013 on March 8th. So next year we'll mark four years that he's been gone. It was a very sudden death, unfortunately, but Wyatt and his dad used to shoot archery. That was one of the things that they could do. And when Wyatt attended a grief camp a few months after his dad died, he wanted, well, take over, Wyatt, what do you want? All right. So I wanted to have an archery shoot. And since my dad worked at TSR and worked on Dungeons and Dragons, so I wanted to have thousands of archers shoot at dragons on a day or two. And I thought that would be really awesome. Fantastic. Fantastic. But what did you tell me? I told you, okay, so I told you after I got back from the grief meeting, I'm like, Mom, Mom, I made this awesome shoot where I shoot at dragons and thousands of archers do it. But that's a dream and it'll never come true. So as a parent, hearing that, that was really a push for me. So two months after that, I went to Kenosha Bowman, where we belong. I said, hey, this is what Wyatt wants to do. This is his dream. Is there any way we can do this to honor his dad? And they said, sure, go ahead and run with it. I had never, I had just picked up a bow after my husband died. In fact, a week after he died, we both went to the public open shoot there. And I didn't know which side of the bow was up or down. It was a recurred bow. So there were quite a few gentlemen there who helped me. And that's when our love for archery started, was right then and there. And it was a way to grieve for us. So we went to there and said, hey, can we have a shoot? And we ended up with 116 shooters the first year. We raised money for the grief camp he went to. And since then, it's grown to 6,000 shooters from 65 countries, 35 states in less than four years. So it really ballooned. It exploded. So one little boy's dream came together and we're really, he actually united the archery world one weekend a year to help everyone slay dragons. Well, that's fantastic. Before we get into the event itself, you had written an article called The Dancing Arrow. Could you tell us a little about that and what that was about and the motivating factor behind it? Sure. The Dancing Arrow was written a year after I lost my husband. And it was a grieving process for me. It was a way for me to sit down and actually realize, wow, this is what we did. This is how much we've accomplished. This is how far we have come. So we've turned a negative into a positive and it was just a way to make something real. It was like, oh, here's the realization of it. But it was also to bring forth the efforts of the Kenosha Bowman Club that we belonged to at that time. There were several key men there who just played a major role in mentoring Wyatt and helping us grieve and really getting us forward to push us on archery. Archery was our grief therapy. And one of the problems that I found is that you can't go to grief groups a month and be successful and help you. You can't go to camp once a week and a year and do that. So that was the way that we did it. We told our story through archery and the Dancing Arrow was just about how we did that journey and the people that helped us along the way and what our goals were. With that, how hard was it to take that first step? To find archery or to move on and take that first step? It really wasn't hard. We never stopped. One of the big things when you lose somebody and when you have a child is that you have to keep normalcy there. And we never stopped. That night we went looking for a birthday gift. Wyatt went to a birthday party the next day. He went to school on Monday. And it was just a basic common sense was, okay, you shot archery through dad. I want to try it. Let's go. And let's do this. We shot, we were hooked. And it was Wyatt shoots instinctive. I do as well. And it really is a symbol of life because you shoot instinctive and you have to keep both eyes open. And that's what you have to in life. You can't go through it blindsided and you can't go with one eye. And you have to aim for your target to hit the mark? Exactly. Exactly. Lots of references can be used with archery. So when you were looking for grief sessions or counseling, it was very hard to find something. It turned to a sport that you loved as a family. Yes. Yes. There's something about getting out in the woods and walking and just the scent, the smell, the sights. When you're out there and even with Wyatt, it transports him back to a happier day with his dad. And it has that connectedness for him. And it helps him heal and it'll help him grow. I know too, as you mentioned, and thank you for sharing your paper on the dancing arrow you had mentioned, Wyatt, when you would sit with your dad on the porch at night after supper, he was getting dark and he would tell you his stories and reminisce with you of things that actually took you there. Right? Yes. And that's what it's all about. And that's what archery clubs. I used to belong to the Winooski Bowman in Plymouth, Wisconsin. And just getting out there and just hearing all the guys share their stories of what's all going on kind of lets you forget everything and relive that with them. So that's a very special thing to have. Yeah. Do you mind if I share one that my dad told me? I would love for you to share one. Okay. So this one was one of my favorite archery involved. So my dad had a lot of his friends and I remember at Hunter Safety they told me about this like maneuver where there's people, where you know that there's deer, right, well, deer, where there's deer in one area and then there's people who are trying to flush them out. So they flush them out and then they run them one way and then there's people in tree stands. My dad was one of the people in the tree stands and he shot his bow at a deer and he didn't think that he hit it. And he was like, oh, why is it just stand still? It went straight through the heart and he thought that he missed it and it sang it later. That's a fantastic memory. It is. And that like at that point, that was one of my most favorite archery stories from him and that just like transported me into the whole story and like I could see everything from the tree stand. And just so amazing. So Wyatt, how long have you been shooting archery and how far have you come? I've been shooting archery for... I started when I was four. Yeah. About two years? Yeah, I started when I was four. I was 11. Oh, I'm sorry. Started when I was four and then it just growed from that point on. I loved it since I was little ever since I touched the bow for the first time. Felt that strong connection to the sport. Like people touch the football or the helmet for the first time and they're like, I'm in. And that's what happened with the bow and archery. Nice. What are some of the, how you've progressed or some of the things you've learned? I know you had mentioned in our pre-interviews, you know, you've been down to Texas. I mean, you've been shooting off of horseback. Can you go into that a little bit? Sure. We were, as part of the second, we did the dragon shoot. It became global. So we had a couple of ladies from South Australia, Bianca and Michelle. Bianca had sent us a video showing us the dragon that they had slayed on horseback and said, hey, by the way, we would love to get Wyatt doing this. So we're giving you, we're giving Wyatt free lessons down with Trey Shetlin down in Texas. And he is an international competitor for horseback archery. So I said, let's do this. The family members give us, gift us airfare to get us down there. So two years ago, Wyatt was down there for 10 days and he was lucky enough to train every day with Trey and learn that skill. And he's just, he loves it. It's awesome. Ever since that I was on that horse and I got the bow on the horse for the first time, it was just, whoa. Wyatt started riding horses at four or two. So about seven years for both. So like both skills I had and then I didn't even know that I could just morph them together and make them warm. That's so awesome. So what you mentioned before you shoot instinctively, the equipment you've learned on and everything, you want to give our viewers just a brief, you know, description on the type of equipment you use and how you shoot. We both shoot recurve. We shoot longbow. Wyatt has a Mongolian horsebow now that he uses for horseback archery. And that's not a big thing here. We're trying to start a club here if we can, but we do have a clinic that we have. Dana Hocko is coming to Madison July 14th, 15th and 16th. We're hosting a horseback archery clinic and that'll be the first one in Wisconsin. So we're really excited about that. And we shoot all traditional arrows. So the equipment isn't... It's not fancy gadgets. It's just very basic instinctive. Primal. Primal? Primal. Primal equipment. Excellent. So let's go into the worldwide dragon shooting date, which you've been mentioning already. So I guess the first part is why dragons? Well... I'm not sure if I stated this when I was talking about it, but my dad worked at TSR and he drew dragons and I remember this one magazine. He made like this paper dragon and all of it out of paper. And it was just so amazing. He had won a Spectrum Award for 3D paper sculpture. So it was a dragon and it was on the cover of that magazine. And he also worked with the Dungeons & Dragons game and ever since he showed me stuff like that, I love dragons. And I'm pretty sure that he drew some artwork on some Magic the Gathering cards also. I'm not sure about that. Well, that's what he told me. Okay. Well, dad knows best. Probably. Okay, so we've identified the dragons and that. And so how did you turn it into the dragon shooting date? Let's say... It was actually... We actually were approached overseas. We have on my Facebook page, I was friends with a lot of different archers all over the world and we were approached by Sandra Gee from the island of Gaza and she said, hey, we love to shoot our tree here. I'm an artist. Basically, can we play too? Is this something you'll open up to other countries or other states and we're like, why not? Let's try it. Yeah, what the fuck, yeah. So it was born. So with the help of Sandra, Armin Hermer, who is over at Malta, those were two people that helped us start this and it just, it really just ballooned and we've had huge supporters from Greece and Poland, New Zealand. It's 65 countries. It's just, you know... Wow, I never knew that archery was that popular throughout the world. Very much so. Especially in Greece. Greece and Poland, it's huge. Yugoslavia. It's amazing the amount of people who are in archery and the different ways that they present their targets. It's a ceremony almost. It's an honor to them. And what we like, what Wyatt likes and what adorns our house, our targets from all over the world that were sent to us saying, this is a dragon we slayed. Here you go. So we have all these targets at home with holes on them and signatures saying, this is what you did and thank you for doing this. Wow, that's fantastic. You take the sport of archery that is so popular and then you tie it now with a special dream. You had Wyatt, your special dream and this is really ballooned into something really huge just because one boy yourself had this idea and dream. That one little boy, seven years old, could do this. Just unite over 6,000 archers. It's fantastic. It's the power of dreaming and the power of imagination. You know, likewise. That's what... And I didn't actually think that big things and dreams like that could come true and that's what all kids and adults have to realize who are going through life struggles or anything can come true. Like the saying, oh, when pigs fly, well, who cares what they say? A pig can fly any day. Just strap like rockets onto it or something. Just do it, right Wyatt? Just do it. There's always a way to find something. Just do it. There you go. And that's where I can see the symbolism in slaying a dragon that's people joining together to slay that one grief or that one harmful thing that's bothering a person or someone else out there where you're joining together to fight against it or the evil. That's powerful. Everybody has their own dragon to slay. It doesn't matter if it's death, if it's alcoholism, if it's an addiction. Everybody has their own dragon to slay and it's a lot easier to help unslay it when you have friends and you have other people doing it and you have the belief that, you know, there's thousands and millions of archers out there that are willing to get behind you and help you do that. Okay. What time of the year is the shoot normally on? Normally the shoot is always on or around March 8th when Dennis passed away. But this year we switched it to the summer. We switched the national shoot to a venue in Michigan. That Tomahawk archers in Temperance, Michigan this year on June 3rd and 4th. We're hoping that that'll draw more people. We're also having a band that night, which is the first time we're doing that. The Reese Daily Band is performing that night and we are able to benefit two families this year for that, the Walker family and the Gritzinger family. So we're very excited about that. And then in Wisconsin we have three different shoots so far from clubs that are willing to work with us and the money there is being raised for a seven-year-old out of Brompton School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who was diagnosed with cancer and his mom was just diagnosed with cancer. So all the money that we raise in Wisconsin and any club that's out there who wants to hold a dragon shoot, all the money will stay with that young man and all the money from the national shoot that we raise in Michigan and from other states will go ahead and stay with these two families to help them. The Walker family, two young teenage boys lost both their parents with a motorcycle accident when a drunk driver hit them late at night. The Gritzinger family, Jimmy Gritzinger is the producer and host the Michigan Outdoor Sports TV show. His wife was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away within a year and he has three young children that he's raising by himself. It's just, it's very emotional thinking about it. Yes. But knowing that we can do something to help them and knowing that we can even raise whatever money we can, you know, it's our way of turning a negative into a positive. It's our way of paying it forward. What an outstanding, just from a little boy's idea. Yes. What an outstanding accomplishment. And I commend you, both of you, you know, for pushing this through never stopping and benefiting other people just from your dream, why it, you know, one arrow at a time. You know, it's just fantastic. I'm kind of speechless right now. And that's one of our saying to impacting the world one arrow at a time. That's right. And I'm saying that I came up with that connects well with the dragon shoot. Is one of the wonders in life is making other lives wonderful and I thought that was connects to this a lot. It's funny when we were, when we told people that this is what we're going to do, they're like, are you crazy? Well, yeah, it helps. It helps to be. But our motto is dream big, shoot straight and aim small. Because even if you shoot as far as you can and you don't get that far, you've tried. And it's a lot further than other people have tried. It takes one step. And it actually, and it does take a world. And we're so lucky to have the people and the arches that we do because we couldn't do it alone. There's no way the dragon shoot would exist if we didn't have these others out there. Right. So what is a typical day of a shoot really consist of how does it work? How does, I guess, what happens? Is it up to each club picking their own things or is it a standard format all for every club that's involved? It's really up to each club to do what they want to do. All we ask is the proceeds that you raise go towards the charities that we have chosen that year. So last year, for example, and Kenosha, the money that we raised went to the Breast Cancer Recovery Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin. We had a very close friend who was battling stage four lung cancer and who unfortunately, Arlinda Sorens, who had unfortunately passed away a few months after that. We were able to donate money for other Breast Cancer survivors to go to SPAS and weekend getaways and just to relax, just to live again. And the other states that held their own charities, they had the option of sending the money directly to the recovery center or they could donate it to another cancer center of their choice. When you're out of country, then we just say whatever you do, pick a charity that you think is deserving and that your heart is in and please donate it to that club. And we have, when you have a shoot, what we ask, because why it loves to look at, is please send us pictures. Please send us videos. Please keep us updated as to this is where it's going. This is why we chose this. And it's not a contest, but it is so much fun to look at the page and see all these pictures and videos flowing in from all over the world and saying, this is what we're doing. This is what we're doing to make a difference. Everybody really is impacting the world one arrow at a time. And you see the smiles, the joy, the commitment and everything. It makes me feel all warm and tingly inside. I bet why. Did you ever think you'd be doing something like this? Never. How do you feel about it? Amazing. All warm and tingly inside. That's fantastic. Just from one boy, a little boy. Yes. So if an archery club in Wisconsin, the country, the world, whichever would ever want to join up with this, you know, charge, how would they get a hold of you or how would they get involved with it? They can get a hold of me directly or they can like us on Facebook. Our Facebook is World Dragon Shooting Day page. We're on Twitter at Shoot Dragon. We're on Instagram at World Wide Dragon Shooting Day. Or the email address is worldwidedragonshootingdayatgmail.com. They can get a hold of us. A regular post. You can instant message us over there, whatever. And whatever we can do to help, that's what we're here for. We can provide a basic flyer for you to send out. We can give you ideas. If you go to our Facebook page, we will have dragon targets there that are easily accessible to download. You can draw your own dragons. And any club can have a dragon shoot any time of the year in any state, any country. Just let us know what you want to do. Let us know when you're doing it. We'll advertise it. We'll do whatever we can to help you succeed. Wouldn't it be fantastic, especially you, wouldn't it be fantastic if we could have archery clubs throughout the state, the country, the world having the dragon worldwide shoot all on the same day with everybody bonding together? Wouldn't that be just huge? I can just tingling right now and feeling it. Everybody at one time in the year getting together and just shooting to wipe out one arrow at a time. That would be absolutely amazing. And we really would love that goal. We would love to see every state and every country on the same day doing this. And it really is, it's mind boggling if you stop to think about it. I think we should issue that as a challenge to all archery clubs who view this broadcast. To contact you to how they can get involved and have a dragon shoot and coordinate to have it all on one day where we unite. That would be excellent. Please do, blow my Facebook page up. Go ahead, send me messages and you date me with everything, please. That would be amazing. We have a few minutes left, so for our viewers, what advice do you have for them to cope with grief? Grief really is an individual journey. And the important thing is to keep moving forward. You can visit a place that lets you shut down for a few minutes or a few hours, but you really don't want to stay there. You want to go forward. You want to remember the person you lost and you want to honor them by doing what they can't anymore. Life is about living. It's not about being stagnant. It just isn't there. And just remember that when you think that you can't go forward, just think about one little boy and what he's done to try to honor his dad and to help others out there. Why did I see you brought a special prop for us? Could you tell us what that's all about? This is the World Dragon shooting day arrow. Can you show it up so he can get a shot of it? There you go. Or in other words, the traveling arrow. Can you hold it up for us one more time, Wyatt, so we can get a good shot at it. There you go. World Dragon shooting day. If anybody wants an arrow that says World Dragon shooting day, we send it out so they can take pictures with themselves, send it back, they can use it, utilize it whatever way they want to. We bring it with wherever we go so we can take pictures with everyone else and let them know we were here. You know, the arrow has landed basically. But we brought this today to get to you as a gift to say thank you so much for having us on the show. And we appreciate your time. And it would be just incredible if we could get as many clubs as we possibly can in Wisconsin and the world to shoot. And if you're in Michigan, please join us June 3rd and 4th at Tomahawk Archers. I thank you very much, Wyatt, for your gift, Wyatt, for your... Thank you very much. I was not expecting this at all. You know, how cool is this? You know, from one boy to have a dream to do something like this. This is beyond speech or description. So, I wish we had more time to talk because I could talk for hours on this, but I'd like to thank you, Dorothy and Wyatt, for being on the show, Special Dreams. And our viewers, if you have any other questions, would like to get involved or have any other ideas for shows, please contact us at www.wscsheboygan.com for quality of life, Special Dreams. Dorothy and Wyatt, I'm Dave Augustine. Thank you for watching.