{"id":383873,"date":"2026-08-28T20:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T20:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383873\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T20:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T20:28:08","slug":"jacksonville-nonprofit-draws-children-from-screens-with-fishing-gardening-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383873\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville nonprofit draws children from screens with fishing, gardening programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A local nonprofit is drawing children away from screens by teaching outdoor skills and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n

Started by Sheronda Holzendorf, We C.O.P.E. Inc.<\/a> uses outdoor activities such as fishing, gardening and planting to connect young people with their community and the environment. Holzendorf says the idea grew out of a desire for activities that \u201cdid not involve combat or collision\u201d for her sons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up watching Captain Planet, so I\u2019m really big on just conservation all together and really doing the right thing,\u201d Holzendorf said. \u201c…advocating and making sure people are aware of some of the things we can do to save our planet and keep it and preserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

We C.O.P.E. Inc. has been operating for about three years and has expanded as parents became involved, Holzendorf says. Rather than just dropping children off, many parents stay and participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially it was just for youth, but we saw that we had such a great collaboration and retention with the parents,\u201d Holzendorf said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t just drop their kids off. They came, they actually sat with us…\u201d<\/p>\n

Pointing at a parent out fishing with the group this day, Holzendorf said, \u201cShe\u2019s one of our biggest supporters. She\u2019s a foster parent of many, many children that support our program and bring out the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

That longtime member, Marian Respess-Conley, said she brought four children to the outing \u2014 one grandchild and three she has adopted \u2014 and that the program has helped calm one child who had struggled elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a place of peace for him,\u201d Respess-Conley said. \u201cIt\u2019s opening our minds to different things other than video games and looking at TV all day long. Now they want to be outside instead of inside looking at TV: \u2018Mom, can we go fishing today?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Children taking part echoed that sentiment. When asked what they liked about fishing, one participant said simply: \u201cCatching it.\u201d<\/p>\n

We C.O.P.E. Inc. is supported by community partners and is funded through local grants and donations. We C.O.P.E. Inc. offers a variety of programs and activities, including gardening and planting.<\/p>\n

Click here to visit We C.O.P.E.\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A local nonprofit is drawing children away from screens by teaching outdoor skills and environmental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,5436,8276,153852],"class_list":["post-383873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-morning-show","tag-non-profit","tag-we-cope"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}