TU NAUGATUCK-POMPERAUG
CHAPTER # 281 The main, annual fundraisers for the Chapter are the Banquet, Main Raffle, Bucket Raffle and Silent Auction. The 2008 fundraiser was a huge success. Chapter president Mike Mackniak thanks all who financially supported the Chapter. Dominic Falcone and Martin Petersen co-chaired those fundraisers. Bob Perrella assisted with getting donations. Their diligent efforts and generous contributors resulted in substantial increase the Chapter’s treasury. Mike Mackniak, Larry Wolff and Glenn La Freniere worked on the raffle at the banquet. The Chapter looks forward to these fundraisers in 2009. Main Raffle (tickets sent to all members) Bucket Raffle & Silent Auction TU NAUGATUCK-POMPERAUG CHAPTER # 281 The main, annual fundraisers for the Chapter are the Banquet, Main Raffle, Bucket Raffle and Silent Auction. The 2008 fundraiser was a huge success. Chapter president Mike Mackniak thanks all who financially supported the Chapter. Dominic Falcone and Martin Petersen co-chaired those fundraisers. Bob Perrella assisted with getting donations. Their diligent efforts and generous contributors resulted in substantial increase the Chapter’s treasury. Mike Mackniak, Larry Wolff and Glenn La Freniere worked on the raffle at the banquet. The Chapter looks forward to these fundraisers in 2009. Main Raffle (tickets sent to all members) Bucket Raffle & Silent Auction Please Support Our Generous Contributors The Presidents Message 2008 Chapter Banquet-- Remarks by Thank you all for coming this evening and a special thanks to our former President Bob Perrella who worked tirelessly in his tenure as our leader A very special thanks needs to go out to Marty Peterson and Dom Falcone for the tremendous job that they have done year after year in pulling together this banquet. This year they tell me that this is the biggest banquet we have ever had, so I offer them my congratulations. Marty helped me build my first rod last spring. He is 78; more than twice my age and has been fishing and tying flies for longer than my Dad has been alive!!!! I’m 38 years old. Which is about 15 years or more, younger than the mean age of my fellow TU Chapter members. I started Fly Fishing when I was 31. Unlike most of my friends in the sport, I haven’t been at it for twenty years. I just started tying flies this past spring. Despite my youth, I’m hooked on Fly Fishing (pun most certainly intended). Fly Fishing is all I read about, it is my only hobby, it is all I like to talk about and now, I stand in front of you speaking about it. I can still see well to tie my knots. I do not use a magnifying glass to tie flies. I don’t typically need a wading stick to cross a river. But it is comforting to know that when the softball leagues shun me, when young folks rush past me, and the luck runs out in the singles bars I will still have a place among the fly fishers. If it is any consolation, I am losing my hair. Marty, I SAID I AM LOSING MY HAIR!!!! (Actually Marty has better hearing and is in better shape than most of us here young and old) So, we should just agree that newcomers to the sport aren’t all bad – ok? In fact, if anything, I would like that to be a “platform” of my tenure as president of this organization. We need to become young and active. Our new motto should be “Being Active will keep you Young and Being Young will make you Active.” This is true in so many aspects of life and quite appropriate to TU. To that point, it is a stated goal of Trout Unlimited nationally, regionally and now, in this chapter that we are going to make a concerted effort to attract new members and to attract younger members. Our outreach and education needs to be dramatically increased so that all fishermen and women, young and old, can learn to value Catch and Release, clean water and all aspects of Conservation and to respect all forms and techniques of fishing. |