John Zimmerman was born and lives in Morganton, North Carolina. Along with his life long friend and co founder Taylor, they created the non-profit organization, Casting for Hope.
Away from Casting for Hope, John is a high school English teacher. He has a Master’s degree in English and Education from Appalachian State University and is a certified by the esteemed National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. With Taylor, John co-owns and runs Upper Creek Angler, a fly-fishing guide and custom tackle service based out of Morganton, North Carolina.
John is the organizer on the team. Partnering with Taylor in vision and mission setting, John’s gifts with organizational patterns and imaginative mind for processes give life to Taylor’s gifts at visualizing the future for Casting for Hope.
John Zimmerman – Inducted in the Humanity category for co-founding the non-profit Casting for Hope, which supports women battling ovarian and other gynecological cancers.
Casting for Hope
Casting for Hope got its start when co-founders John Zimmerman and Taylor Sharp started fly fishing together in 2010. Taylor’s mother, Amy Sharp, was fighting ovarian cancer. John’s grandmother, Doris, had passed away several years earlier after fighting a similar multi-year cancer battle. Back then, Taylor was in John’s English classes at Patton High School, but John and Taylor found that fusing fly fishing and their growing friendship helped to heal both of their pains brought about by bearing firsthand witness to the traumas that come from a dear loved one living with cancer. Amy passed in December of 2010. In late 2011, John and Taylor were working on Taylor’s senior project of fly tying and rod building, and they entered a fishing tournament known as “Tie One On” for Casting for Recovery, an organization similar to ours whose focus is on women battling breast cancer. Casting for Hope was born that weekend after John and Taylor came back home after taking second place determined to fuse their love of fly fishing and their friendship with their desire to ease the pain that others were experiencing and which they knew about first hand. John and Taylor co-direct and co-manage annual events such as the Casting for Hope Music Fest, the Casting for Hope Gold Level Fly-Fishing Competition, the fishing side of the Casting for Hope retreats, the Cherokee Classic, and the Morning of Hope 5K Race and Community Sunrise Service. Kathy Haney is the Executive Director.
