|
|
NW CT Chapter of Trout Unlimited Minutes of Meeting May 2, 2017
The May meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM at the Torrington Elks Club by President Ken Ludwig. There were eleven attendees.
The Secretary’s Report for April was read by Bob Hart and was accepted as read.
The Treasurer’s Report was given by Treasurer Bill Richie. There is $3618.79 in our treasury. The treasurer’s report was accepted as read.
President Ken Ludwig reported that Cheryl from Casting for Recovery would like two of our members at their upcoming meeting to give a presentation of what our chapter could do to help their organization. Jim Fedorich said Frank Schildgen volunteered the use of his pond for fishing events once a year for each of Casting for Recovery and Project Healing Waters.
Ken gave the membership a report on the responses to the new mass emailing software he is testing. It looks like approximately 30-40% of the people opened the email (and read them??) which is higher than the expected rate of 25% for most non-profit organizations.
We did not have any volunteers to go to this year’s New England Regional meeting in New Jersey. Jim stated this was a very informative and fun weekend and our chapter should plan on sending some folks next year. The State TU contributes $500 and our chapter also kicks in some money so the out-of-pocket cost to the attendees is minimal.
Under new business, Ken mentioned he knows a guy who has a lodge for rent at the Pulaski River. Ken wanted to know if anyone was interested in going. It is short notice for this year, but is something to keep in mind and discuss for next year.
Jim mentioned some other possible trips to look into, including the Hungary Trout on the Ausable River and a trip to Roscoe, New York. Jim also mentioned we should consider combining trips with other TU chapters.
Jim brought up a suggestion to purchase a gas grill for the Club when we had sufficient funds. We seem to be the chapter people turn to to cook food.
Joe Cieslowski discussed some points resulting from the exploratory committee on how our chapter could assist youth groups. The main concern is the lack of manpower to take on running one or more of these programs, so the recommendations from the group is to be one of a resource to outside groups. Joe also suggested we try one group to see how it works out before undertaking other groups. The suggestion is to send out a request to pursue expanding our relationship with the school that reached out to Dick Heffernon regarding a fly casting class.
Due to inclement weather forecasted for this Friday, the Blackberry fishing trip on May 5th has been postponed until next Friday, May 12th.
Ken reported he is looking to set up a Facebook page for our chapter, as Northwestern Connecticut Trout Unlimited.
There was a fly swap this evening, as well as a 50-50 raffle. There was no program for this evening
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 6th, 2017 at the Torrington Elks Club at 7:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Bob Hart Secretary, NW CT Chapter of Trout Unlimited |