{"id":521604,"date":"2026-11-07T09:38:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T09:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/521604\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T09:38:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T09:38:44","slug":"hooks-for-heroes-honors-long-beach-community-leaders-at-veterans-fundraiser-herald-community-newspapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/521604\/","title":{"rendered":"Hooks for Heroes honors Long Beach community leaders at veterans fundraiser | Herald Community Newspapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local nonprofit Hooks for Heroes<\/a> will host its 11th annual Veterans Day fundraiser on Nov. 7, recognizing two Long Beach locals for their work in the community.<\/p>\n

Hooks for Heroes was founded in 2016 by James Torborg, a Marine Corps veteran, former New York City Police Department officer and current New York City Fire Department firefighter. Knowing the stresses of serving, Torborg said he wanted to provide a positive outlet for first responders and military veterans \u2014 which led him to his passion for fishing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFishing has always been my outlet,\u201d Torborg said. \u201cI just wanted to share that with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caryl Ann O\u2019Neill-Niven is this year\u2019s Hugh Raiten Award recipient. Raiten was founding board member of Hooks for Heroes who, according to Felicia Nicholas<\/a>, a Hooks for Heroes board member and local businesswoman, worked tirelessly to grow their organization by securing donations and raffle items. Raiten died in 2022 and the award\u2019s inception, Nicholas said, aimed to keep Raiten\u2019s legacy alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHughie was so selfless,\u201d Nicholas said. \u201cHe gave so much of himself to so many people. He was always about America, loved veterans and taking care of people in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill-Niven is one of the many faces of the Michelle O\u2019Neil Foundation<\/a>, a nonprofit created in 1997 in memory of Long Beach native Michelle O\u2019Neill \u2014 the youngest of four siblings who died at 24 after battling cancer. The foundation, which marked its 30-year anniversary on Oct. 28, raises funds for families of children with cancer and children with developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n

The foundation, O\u2019Neill-Niven said, contributes to some of Michelle\u2019s favorites. They\u2019ve partnered with the Ronald McDonald House \u2014 where Michelle was assisted with treatments \u2014 and has made contributions over the years, which led to the house\u2019s rooftop retreat being named in her honor. Big Sky Kids, a camp in Montana that serves children with cancer, was another organization Michelle loved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWere able to give back to so many, you know, organizations and families and children that need our help,\u201d O\u2019Neill-Niven said. \u201cThat\u2019s our biggest accomplishment: the more we grow, the more we can give back.\u201d<\/p>\n

This years\u2019 service member honoree is Adam Butter \u2014 a local realtor who served in the U.S. Army overseas for more than three years. He was selected, in part, by Nicholas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam is an all-around community guy, and we like to support people within our own community,\u201d Nicholas said of his outreach with veterans. \u201cEspecially those who are still very much part of the community and what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event will run from 2 to 6 p.m. at JJ Coopers on West Park Avenue, and includes live music from Dave Kellan and Katie Mitchell. As well, the U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard and the New York City Fire Department\u2019s Pipe Band will also give presentations. Admission is $100 at the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local nonprofit Hooks for Heroes will host its 11th annual Veterans Day fundraiser on Nov. 7, recognizing two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[199600,199599,187170,131,133,132,199598,199601],"class_list":["post-521604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-adam-butter","tag-caryl-ann-oneill-niven","tag-hooks-for-heroes","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-long-beach-veterans-day-fundraiser","tag-veterans-community-recognition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}