Off To A Good Start In 2010
by President Sam Bishop
* Cecilia Stipes wins Dame Juliana Award
My sincerest congratulations to Cecilia Stipes, winner of the Dame Juliana award. This is the second time Cecilia has won! This award, is named after the author of "A Treatyse of Fyshynge with an Angle", Dame Juliana Berners, written in 1496. It is awarded every year to one person who has received the most anonymous votes by the general membership for helping others.
* Thank You
I can't say enough about how fortunate we are to have John and Elaine Cook. The amount of work they do to put the fund raiser together and make it a success is phenomenal. Also, John and Pat Steele, who labor year round to gather (and store in their house) the prizes we need to have the fabulous raffle and auction. This year we almost had to turn people away! Only a few no-shows allowed us to seat everyone.
* Youth Activities
In 2010, I would like for us to place a focused emphasis on youth programs and activities. I know that we already "add-on" the kids and welcome their participation at the ConFab, fly tying, fish-outs, etc. However because we don't have anyone focusing on it, it continues to be "ad hoc", or random.
A Youth Activities Committee could arrange for special fly tying for kids, or helping scout troops to obtain fishing merit badges, or arrange for special kid's day fish outs at places like Lake McAlpine (see picture). Perhaps a special Public Education Day, or "Confab for kids".
We could give added assistance to the STEP program (Salmon & Trout Education Program). There's lots more ideas than just these.
So let's have a committee within our club who has the encouragement of kids to participate in the sport of fly fishing and to learn conservation as its focus. If you would like to be on that committee, please contact me. This will be a fun one!
