TJTU will host its’ annual fundraising banquet at the King Family Vineyards on Saturday, October 22. Chef Michael Wood of Have Food Will Travel will once again be catering the event and Mondo Mafia will also be on hand to play their beautiful Bluegrass music.
Plans are underway for this years event, with a before dinner program featuring casting contests for kids and adults and other fun activities. We will have the usual silent and live auction items: Guided trips, rods, reels, fly-fishing accessories, and many other great items as well. It’s just in time to grab a great bargain and get a jump on the Christmas shopping season. Further details will be in the September newsletter. If you would like to help out with planning, set up or can donate to our cause we would love to hear from you.
Contact Banquet Chair:
Roger Sprouse at dflyz57@adelphia.net or
Chubby Damron at Damron1961@adelphia.net
TJTU’s Annual Banquet is one of two yearly major fund raising events that we undertake to continue to do our part in the pursuit of the mission of Trout Unlimited, which is to conserve, protect and restore our coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. We are but one of many groups that are committed to the preservation of our natural resources and we take our place in the headwaters, where our only native trout, the Eastern Native Brook Trout still thrives today as the result of many years of good management and the strong partnerships that came together to protect these irreplaceable resources. Our work includes any watershed that contains cold water and Brown and Rainbow Trout as well.
TJTU is very appreciative in the support we get each year from our members, sponsors and contributors, who, with their generosity allows TJTU to help with several worthwhile programs. Funds raised by TJTU pay for the stocking of the Moorman’s Special Reg Section, which is used as an educational platform for the Fly Fishing Camp for the Disabled, and as a source of funding for this very beneficial event. We also contribute time and funding for the Kids Fishing Day at Mint Springs Park, and in past years we helped fund the City of Charlottesville Urban Kids Fishing Day. TJTU made the initial donation to the Va. Council Back the Brookie Campaign Fund and the Council’s Chapter Resource Fund. In ’04 we donated to the Virginia Mountain Streams Symposium and have help fund other important programs in other chapters over the past two years. We continue to make a yearly contribution to the UVA Environmental Science Dept. Endowment Fund and we also helped fund the Trout Unlimited’s Fly-fishing and Conservation Camp for teen-agers at Graves Mountain Lodge this past June. We also made a donation of fly-fishing and conservation books to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, and funded cleanups on the Moorman’s River and Swift Run and donated to the Mossy Creek Turnstile Replacement.
Our next goal is to undertake a larger project here in our area and continue our yearly projects and sponsoring and to be a major player in the education of our youth in the importance of clean air and water while fighting to protect our coldwater fisheries.
Plan to come out and join us on October 22, and make some new friends and fishing partners and have a great time with family and friends and help us continue our role in not only the Greater Charlottesville Area but in the Commonwealth as well. Only with your support can we make it happen, you can help make a difference.
Thanks, Chubby Damron, President